Why Oblivion Ruined Skyrim

Most of your arguments against the game come across as this.

“I liked this one game’s theme. Now this new game comes along and isn’t a carbon copy of it, so therefore I refuse to give it a real shot.” 

If that’s your attitude where it comes to gaming, you don’t deserve to be even posting here. 

And for the record, there are AMAZING sights in Skyrim, far from the “old norse town” look. You just have to play it to find them. You need to engage the story. And a quick recommendation: If you want to get the most out of the game, at least complete the quest-line that leads to you learning your first Shout. 

In addition, because you love the spectacular looking places, I recommend the following as things to look forward to once you overcome your hitches.

There is a cave in the world, dark by nature but filled with glowing crystals. There are alien-like “humming” herbs for you to pick, each with their own glow and mysterious nature. You can walk around, mining soul-gems and other ores from this wonderful place. 

In addition, there are “Groves” that have very breathtaking scenery, beautiful streams and trees in strangely alluring lighting. 

And then there’s Sovngarde and the mists therein, the awesome “bridge” (which I will let you experience and -not- describe…) and other truly inspiring places. Suffice it said, I wish I never had to leave…

So if you find it within yourself to renew your love of the series and the wonders that lie within… do yourself a favor and explore away. You will find many places of wonder. (See also the College of Mages.)

if you are not gonna play it , send it this way , i havent played it and am dying to get my hands on it ,dont let it go to waste 

Mario games are why I have a hard time playing other games that are more realistic. I love the escape to another world and the mario series has provided.

^^^  Couldn’t have relayed my thoughts any better..

Opposite for me. I tried Oblivion and just could not get into it. I got Skyrim out of boredom and it’s been in my Xbox for a whole month without coming out.

I think that you mean “palate” and not “palette” 

I have this exact same problem! I just can’t bring myself to play the bleak and snowy Skyrim because The Shivering Isles was just too good!

 ^^ THIS. 

Just explore dude, tons of creepy odd stuff like in Shivering Isles. Plus without giving away too many spoilers, there are some cool stuff & people to find that relates to it, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. 

This is interesting, because I have much the same feelings, except replace “Shivering Isles” with “Morrowind.” The one thing I absolutely adored about that game is how incredibly alien the culture and the landscape was. I particularly enjoyed the company of Khajiit and Argonians, because their speech always hinted that their culture and, indeed, their very physiological and psychological makeup made them very definitely different not human, which is, sadly, a rare thing.
Contrast Skyrim (and Oblivion and, really, nearly every other entry in the Elder Scrolls series) where you get a generic fantasy world with generic fantasy creatures with generic fantasy cultures.And yes, the game definitely has a few places where it deviates from formula, a few odd, breathtaking locations and some interesting dialogue. There are things in Skyrim that make you take a step back and go “Whoa.”What you have to recognize is that Morrowind and the Shivering Isles were like that ALL THE TIME.

I put in a ridiculous amount of time in Fallout 3, but got halfway through New Vegas before I just lost interest… So it’s possible that a certain style of player is overwhelmed by stepping into such a giant new world, with base stats, and starting over.

Actually, “I prefer this thing to that thing and here’s why,” is pretty much the most valid point to make as to why I prefer one thing to another. I never said you should agree with my preference.

Oh, good catch. I was joking about palette swaps all last night, guess it stayed fresh in my mind.

I have a friend who feels the same way about Oblivion and Skyrim because of Morrowind. You are not alone. Also, yeah, Shivering Isles made me feel that way literally the whole time I was walking through it, and dealing with all of the residents.

Agreed. It’s weird though, because I tend to hunt for trophies and play MMOs whenever I find one I like. I think the main problem is the whole starting over in a very similar world, with pretty much a copy-paste play system (combat mechanics in Elder Scrolls are basically the same).

The way to fix that is to try to make people care about the new story (Skyrim hasn’t gotten me to care what happens to the world yet), or make the world so engaging to move through, that you end up playing just to see what the world looks like (which is the whole problem I described in the above rant).

Go to Blackreach and then say it’s not as good as Shivering Isles. 

Skyrim is a beautiful game in its own right, from the gameplay right down to the landscapes. The moving streams, the wildlife, the dragons, its a new game and cannot be compared to oblivion or the shivering isles. For what its worth I hope in the expansion for skyrim they let me take the fight to the aldmeri dominion, can’t stand those elves…

Have to disagree. This is an opinion post, the idea that “You can’t have an opinion if I don’t like it” is ridiculous. And to be honest, Skyrim hasn’t done anything so new or so exciting to make many people want to devote the time into it. So.. It’s not only his opinion, but a valid argument against the game.

new or so exciting to make SOME people want to devote the time into it.. Ahh.. proofreading after posting.

Well, everyone is certainly entitled to an opinion, but your argument above is more like “The 0.1% of Skyrim I’ve experienced doesn’t compare to the coolest stuff I experienced in my 100s of hours of Oblivion + expansion packs”.  Which makes it a pretty uninformed and unfair opinion, sorry.

I agree Brian… James Plafke should not criticize a game he admits to having barely played!

Yeah, so I would of gone the otherway and said there’s not enough.

For example, Beth gave companions personality in the two Fallout games they made, but this wasn’t present in Skyrims companions.

Questlines quickly set you up to be the hero/head hancho, but the title is never really earnt, with the exception of Thieves and Brotherhood.

Once again voice acting has let the game down, though it has been slightly improved since Oblivion. Don’t know why Beth don’t just pull a bunch of people off the street, give them 10 lines each to say and pay $100 for their efforts. Quick, simple and adds some needed variety.

Oh and dynamic my axsx.

All that said, i did enjoy the game and can’t wait for the expansions.

Shut the fuck up, right now, and go play Morrowind. I mean no offense with my language, but seriously, everybody knows Bethesda was simply retreading that beautifully alien territory with SI. Get the GOTY Edition and go find some of the mod comps that have been released recently if it feels dated (yes, the modding community is STILL decently active almost 10 years later, plus of course you have an obvious decade-worth of back catalog to choose from), and give it the god damned chance it so readily deserves – and yes, that might mean you have to sink a few tedious hours into it before it really picks up (just as you should do with Skyrim when you’re done with Morrowind, as it really is the superior game when compared to Oblivion!). Us TES veterans don’t swear by it for just any old reason!

Please, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a forum flamer or anything of the sort. I simply said how I felt your opinion was coming across.

And as others have relayed, you are entitled to your opinion… but I find it hard to believe a truly informed opinion can come from an experience which is less than 1/100th of the experiences within the game’s world (obviously I’m estimating here, but I’d be surprised if it isn’t of a similar scale.) 

The intended message I am hoping to bring to this is that “Readers Beware; this isn’t an informed response to the game. It’s just an opinion from someone who hasn’t given it a fair shot, self admittedly.”

The community tend to read things like this, and might only skim through the titles, briefly reading through the first few lines and think they are getting the ‘gist’ of things where it relates to the game. I would hate for someone to miss out on the truly amazing experiences within this game just because they felt an authority of the gaming world (or geek world, or what-have-you) gave it a negative review. 

Understand, I have nothing against James. I just want others to be aware that his expressed opinions are very specifically narrow in their scope. They are not a review of the game, and they most certainly aren’t a reflection of the majority of the game’s content. They’re more of a reflection of the “tutorial” that many games have, as the first city and its quests and such are more or less just that. A  tutorial masked in the clothing of the start of the main plot. 

Your post has no validity to the points that were expressed. I didn’t say “You can’t have an opinion if you don’t like it.” And if you took the time to read what I said, you would understand that it’s quite different.

To break it down to simpler terms, what I said was “Your opinion isn’t an informed opinion, since you only played the first tiny portion of the game, and you’re trying to compare it to the ‘amazing endgame content’ of the predecessor game’s -expansion pack-.” 

Or do you believe that one can make an informed opinion about a game’s content by putting the disc in, creating a character, and playing through an extended tutorial?

Let me preface what I’m about to say, by saying this. The first game I ever fell in love with (other than Final Fantasy 7, just due to its musical score) was Morrowind. Oblivion didn’t grip me as tightly, but I found it to still be a good game, and I can’t compare anything to the Shivering Isles because I never got to experience it. 

With that said… I have played Morrowind for more hours of my life than I care to ever admit. Suffice it said, I’ve done nearly every quest line in the game, multiple times over multiple -different play style- characters. Was the game breathtaking? Most definitely. Was the story-line gripping? Absolutely. Did the lore just beg to be delved into? Absolutely. But was it always a deviation from formula, or were all the locations breathtaking, or was all of the dialogue interesting? No. Not in my -opinion- at any rate. 

Now, you bring up the difference in the Khajiit from how they were presented in Morrowind. I will agree that the dialogue was a bit different, but there was by far a whole lot more of it. There was far more voice acting in Skyrim than there was in Morrowind. The characters simply ‘said more’ in Skyrim… a fact that probably leads to your feeling that they were less enigmatic. And yet, the way they spoke was still quite different from the speech of the ‘natives.’ 

Did you ever speak with M’aiq the Liar? He -is- an enigma to say the least. How about the Khajiit traders? Their expressions, methods of expressing affection or general friendliness (i.e. “may you walk on warm sands…”) is quite different than the expressions from the other races. And the voices used… well, frankly they sounded as if from some Arabic lineage, to compare it to a real world analogue. 

All I can say is, I respect your opinion because I -still- can’t say that I prefer Skyrim to Morrowind. I mean, you can always go out to a fancy restaurant, but… there’s nothing that will ever compare to the comfort of home cooked meals. For me, Morrowind is home. I felt like I could have (and after the hours I put in playing it, I felt like I actually) lived there. The small part of Morrowind that we got to experience (The Vvardenfell District, and the Imperial City part from Tribunal, as well as Solthsthiem) was full of wonder. Skyrim is the fancy restaurant. It holds places far more breathtaking than any scenery in Morrowind. The people feel and act more real. The ‘actors’ interact with one another, instead of just wandering aimlessly back and forth. Granted, the city guards eventually get annoying to hear, especially after the fiftieth time they ask you to brew them up an ale, or enchant their sword (you know, the one so dull it could barely cut butter…) But ultimately, it has many more facets than Morrowind did. It’s by far more capable of playing on multiple senses to draw you into its world and culture. 

At least, that’s my opinion.

This ^^ – One of the places I was talking about in my original response to this. 

I’m not a fan of how you chose to express your feelings on this subject, but I will agree that with or without any form of “updating of graphics” from the mod community, Morrowind (GOTY or otherwise) is more than worth playing, and exploring every nook and cranny of. 

” When Morrowind first released, I’ll admit, I was too young..” ..Ugh, here we go with kids that have not even know about the TES I and II, has no context to the game series, no context to game development through out the years. Makes me such a sad panda, and then they go critisising a game for personal preferences rather then its actual short commings and technical and game designer faults. Personaly I find Skyrim lacking in interesting story/quest content, lacking in character personality and flair, but so do most of TES, but they got away with it in simpler days where TES’s (I&II) freedom and vastness just blew your mind. If Skyrim has anything going for it it’s the look, the setting, the toned down grim world of viking fantasy, it’s for that alone that I enjoy playing a TES game since Arena and Daggerfall (never enjoyed Morrowing or Oblivion). The game play mechanics still has gaping holes though, even more so then ever with the horrible conversion from consol to PC. Shame on you Bethesda, shame.

TLDR: first world problems are a bitch

Interesting thoughts.

Daggerfall and Arena were interesting games, and certainly expansive for their time. And as you said, their character development was lacking to say the least. 

However I tend to disagree with your ideas of a lack of character personality to a point, regarding Skyrim and Morrowind. The NPC’s that were most important did have defining personality characteristics, though admittedly Beth really needs to start using more voice actors and less of the same dialogue for the ‘background’ npcs. Having all the male guards have the same voice, and all the female guards in the same boat was very irritating. Granted, not ‘every’ guard had the same voice, but there were only a few different ones overall. It certainly seems as if every guard from Stormcloak to Imperial was born from the same mother and father. 

I do agree with you on the note of it being a terrible conversion from console to PC. I did find it quite annoying that I could never use the ‘favorite’ option for anything once I patched the game, and the lack of quick-slotting, or number-key associations with spells and abilities was quite irritating. But at least the PC gamers have the console to fix some of the quest bugs…

All in all, I think the story and content of Skyrim was actually interesting, and I enjoyed all of the plots within the world, as well as the meta-plot. The Dragonborn plot was fantastic; it gave a drive to continue in your destiny but it didn’t make you speed through the game. The Stormcloak Rebellion (for either faction) was interesting plot-wise. I even enjoy how the plot branches different ways depending on what order you do the quests in. Then there’s the Dark Brotherhood quests, which were quite intriguing. In any case, I think the game had a lot to offer someone who enjoys the setting of the world of Tamriel. 

I have one work for the writer. Blackreach.

James, I know how you feel. lol. Tho for me, its the other way around. Haha. I could never get in to Oblivion very much. I did do a far amout of stuff, but I never got past lvl 10 on any char I started.

I put it down to this: Skyrim and Oblivion are VERY differnt and VERY simmiler at the same time. As such, I can play skyrim but not Oblivion. I can’t explain it, but thats it.

oblivion didn’t ruin skyrim, your just an idiot.
 I will admit i put more hours into oblivion, but its not that it was better and i certainly don’t feel like skyrim killed the game in any way.
shivering isles was great, but at the same time, oblivion gate dungeon things were terrible.
in fact, almost all the oblivion dungeons were terrible and involved HOLY CRAP TRAPS and random skeleton monsters.
skyrim you can feel a sense of exploration, and there is wildlife to hunt which is really cool. you can also black smith and make your own armor.

there are things I wish skyrim had from oblivion, like the arena and spell crafting but you mentioned
if its this bad get it on PC and see if there is a mod that turns all the grass yellow and dirt green and water purple. stop acting like a 4 year old seeing “pretty colors” because that is what you sound like.

skyrim looks great and to think i thought oblivion looked good. it just getting better.

have you fought a dragon? or shouted?

I have the same issue of not playing games because there’s too much to do. I don’t want to invest that much time, but I just can’t play the game while passing things up either.

Oh, thanks for sharing. 

?

the fact that you would write this makes me think you feel you’re “too good” for skyrim. I believe anybody can have an opinion, but your ignorance to skyrim’s world is what makes your opinion a bad one. you haven’t delved enough into skyrim to even be able to say it doesn’t have places or scenery near as good as shivering isles, or that it doesn’t have the allure shivering isles did. reading this article was a complete waste of time.

Btw, did you see the dwarwen metropolis underground?

I think I see what you mean – I started reading this and wasn’t really interested in completing it because it wasn’t interesting enough, and I didn’t relate to the content at all.

thats the internet for ya. voice your a opinion and 100 douchebags tell you your wrong. I too, am one of those douchebags. i would say at least finish the main quest then make a decision. Also, how can you say “theres to much to do” nobody is holding a gun to your head and making you do these things,so just dont do them. ( i know you wrote it just emphasizing). its like your trying to compare to kinds of cake both delicious in their own way, you’ve eaten one, twice. and merely glanced at the other. Then made a claim that the cake you tasted was so delicious it ruined the cake you never put in your mouth. So come on James! Put in your mouth!

One word: Blackreach.

Clearly not an elder scrolls fan, I’m trying to figure out what the point of this article is. If skyrim was full of people that couldn’t talk properly it would suck, cicero was annoying enough, if it was full of vibrant colours with a landscape that springs to life it wouldn’t be skyrim would it? the point of skyrim is the fact that it is a hard, rugged environment, with little joy and colour. it’s what makes it great. what creates the atmosphere, oh if you want a good heist, join the thieves guild, job done. 

I have played an obscene amount of Fallout 3 & New Vegas recently so the jump to Skyrim really does feel like more of the same (which makes it easier to get to terms with but (while I really like it)  it is getting a little tedious. Never started Oblivion as the game would crash inside of the first 5 mins

First article I have read on this site.  I won’t be back

There is a wall to Skyrim and when you hit it, you will hit it hard.

One word for you.

Blackreach.

 I found Oblivion to be a disappointment compared to Morrowind and Skyrim a disappointment compared to Oblivion. And I have played all games including expansions for more than 100 hours each. It is just horrible how people think Skyrim is the best thing ever when it most certainly isnt.

Just as it was stated earlier, for you to give Skyrim an “unplayable” or similar review because you refuse to do any of the legwork that was and is the definition of that as well as many other RPG’s shows your lack of experience and you being undeserved of the ability to review games.

There are games that require the time and energy put into them in order to give them a fair shot at being able to draw in an audience. Before you decide to review another game, let alone an RPG-esque game, I would suggest you take a break before you try the game for fear of similar mistakes that would transpire. 

My opinion of Skyrim is that I don’t have the fucking time to play such a game. It’s worse than any MMO I’ve ever played as there isn’t any sense of progression, just mindless meandering through the country side. I prefer Fallout 3 and New Vegas to the Elder Scrolls series any how as it’s just a more immersive experience and I enjoy the sci-fi theme and style of the 1950′s era. As most intelligent gamers know, graphics don’t make a game, it has very little to do with how great a game can be. I come from the NES era of gaming so I know when a game is good or bad regardless of how it looks.

Skyrim is just a polished up carbon copy of Oblivion and unless you’re on disability, unemployed or have really picky taste in gaming, there’s no way you can just sit there and enjoy that one game for that many hours…it gets boring and it’s just an annoying virtual scavenger hunt, with fetch quests, nothing more. I’m done with these kinds of games because I’ve mastered three of them already, which were mentioned above…time to move on.

The only people who would enjoy this game are people who haven’t completely burned themselves out on other similar titles, or like I said, someone who has nothing left to live for really.

I agree with Plafke, Skyrim isn’t nearly as amazing as Oblivion/Shivering Isles was back in the day. It has so many game-breaking issues, not to mention that the story isn’t interesting at all. (No plot twist, really? Nothing? HOW is ANY of that supposed to beat Mehrunes Dagon? Come on….) Oblivion wasn’t perfect either but why is Skyrim worse, if not just as bad as Oblivion? 

Not mentioning the various glitches, for various reasons.

The graphics are awesome, but repetitive. Much of the game has a rushed or expendable feeling to it. Less is more sometimes, guys. Don’t make the game gigantic at the cost of unique, sensible environments. Cut out the pointless, ugly cities and expand on Solitude, Winterhold, Markarth, Whiterun, etc

And where are all the wealthy merchants? The thieve’s guild? LOL

Why so many repetitive lines spanning across numerous cities? Aren’t we past that yet?

Why do the sides of mountains have such horrendous textures if I’m allowed/supposed to traverse them?    

The horse makes no sense whatsoever. Why can’t i go into first-person mode on the horse? Why can the horse climb mountains? Who knows? 

And Alduin… oh god, Alduin…. why is he just a recolor of a generic dragon? Glowing runes on his scales would have been better… anything else but the recolor! What is this, Mortal Kombat? Paarthurnax was actually more intriguing an Alduin, should have been the final boss or turned out to be Alduin himself, imo. Mehrunes Dagon ftw.

Last thing, even though the list goes on and on…. If the player never activates the Dragonborn quest-line, why can he/she still TAKE everything in Skyrim? Pay attention, 90% of the possessions in people’s homes are free! Every once in awhile, there’ll be a gold coin or something that the developers forgot to… totally give away! Even in villages and mines, the items are abandoned property. Makes no sense. 

All in all, Skyrim is a wonderful game….. if you haven’t already spent countless hours in Tamriel. 

Oh, oh! @*&# the Bard’s college and all it’s disappointing redundancy. 

Morrowind > Oblivion > Skyrim < DARK SOULS

Demon’s Souls > Dark Souls, sorry

My rebuttal to this author is one word: “Blackreach”

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Hmm… If you did play the game you would realize there is a Shivering Isles -esk place in Skyrim. Connecting the dwarven mines is a out of place realm that has the look you are going for. Check it out.

I had a similar problem with Oblivion, actually.  I was blown away by Morrowind, which was incredibly creative and interesting (it takes place on a volcanic island where bugs grow to massive size and are used for armor, and transport; several demigods take up residence amongst the people of the island; you can join the Telvanni and grow yourself a mushroom house with soul gems for fertilizer; and you can enchant your pants with levitation and literally fly around the entire island; to name a few highlights).

*spoiler alert*
Not to mention in the main quest line of Morrowind you are evolving into a freaking demigod yourself, where in Oblivion’s main quest line you literally end up standing to the side and watching an NPC finish the main quest for you! Then HE becomes king! *end spoiler*

After Morrowind, Oblivion just seemed like a historic recreation of medieval Europe – even the “Oblivion Gates” were just a faithful recreation of mythic “Hell Gates”. Oblivion totally lacks creativity by comparison – what happened?

I didn’t have the same issues with Skyrim that I did with Oblivion, for some reason. The scenery is beautiful, and I think that helps a lot. The NPC dialogue is much better and less creepy. The world, though borrowing heavily from it’s Norse mythology source material, is creative and unusual and there are many, many places that will take your breathe away. The first time I was adventuring out at night and saw the Aurora Borealis above the skies of Skyrim was truly awe inspiring.

I hope you keep playing, there’s a lot to enjoy in the world of Skyrim. I also hope Bethesda reads this review of the game, because they need to hear that there is a significant subsection of their fans that enjoy their crazier, more creative world building. Let’s have more places like Morrowind and Shivering Isles!

P.S. – do the Daedric quests, you will most likely enjoy them.

Why do you people always tear people up for their opinions?  he doesn’t like Skyrim…big deal…who cares?  Why  criticize someone’s tastes, regardless of what value you put on them.  go write your own pieces then.

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Stop being a bitch.

My dork points just went up 10 points, and my penis shriveled 3 cm’s. Good job guys. 

I completely get what he’s saying.
While I love Skyrim, it felt very generic and I wish it had taken me to places that the franchise had never been before.
Skyrim is an amazing but but it could have done with some more originality and, after oblivion, it almost felt like I was playing the same game twice.

Man thats like saying “I got bored with Half Life 2 after an hour because it didnt look like Xen from HL1″, but I do understand the “theres so much crap to do that I dont want to waste my real life on some video game”.

TRUTH Brian!

I can totally see what you’re talking about. I spent my hours in morrowind running around, trying to kill everything, wandering through the massive environment. It was amazing, even though i wasn’t very experienced with games like Elder Scrolls. Oblivion came out and i played countless hours, only to be given an even more amazing world to explore in the shivering isles expansion. Honestly the only two quest lines I really wanted them to bring to skyrim were the Dark Brotherhood, and literally anything with Sheogorath. Everyone has their favorite quests characters and environments. We just have to remember, the Skyrim DLC hasnt come out yet!!

same happened to me after i played the shivering isles oblivion and skyrim were just to boring  for me.

your forgetting shivering isles came out like a year or two after oblivion was even released, skyrim came out 4 months ago….. A huge expansion pack like shivering isles is probably in the works right now, you just have to give them time to make an extra world for skyrim, it does not happen over night. and ps i found a cave in skyrim which was absolutely huge, big enough for like 40 dragons to fly around in, took me 6.5 hours to actually get through that cave, so there is alot more to skyrim than meets the eye, you just have to actually play the game sir

Boom. Headshot.

penus

NOPE. Oblivion is still better, and I beat Skyrim and Dark Brotherhood side quest.

lol this too funny, bethesda wouldnt release a game if it wasnt better than their previous. End of argument lol, play the damn game i mean if you’re looking for scenery woah, theres this place a cave with a city inside called blackreach or sumthing or reachcliff one of those names. man i’ve never been so awed to be in a game

WTF kind of petty shit is this? You are complaining that there is TOO MUCH stuff to do? 

You might as well kill yourself now, there is a LOT of stuff to do in real life

Lame article, no substance, not an interesting plot,no valid arguments, waste of time.

I have the same problem. When there is too much to do, I become overwhelmed. I lose focus because I’m never really able to ”finish” the game or have specific goals. Of course I could just finish the main quest line in Skyrim but I don’t find it that interesting, after all it’s more about the journey than the destination, which brings me back to my problem. The journey that was supposed to take 30 minutes ends in me spending 3 hours scavenging random dungeons and not really getting anywhere. I literally HAVE TO explore every little nook and cranny. This coupled with my diminishing patience is a bad combo. I know this isn’t the game’s fault, I just wanted to say that Jame’s problem isn’t his alone.

I too immersed myself in all that Oblivion had to offer and I felt the same way you did going into Skyrim.

I guess I just got lazy with Skyrim cuz Oblivion really drained the spelunking out of me. Skyrim was good but I guess I had more fun with Oblivion. Specially shivering Isles. 

The top three comments are just “DUDE WAT R U TALKING ABUT I NEFUR PLAYED MARROWDIND OR OBLIVION 4, BUT SKYREM IS SUHC A UNIQEKE ENFURONMUNT, -NO PLACE ON EARTH LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE EVERYTHING THERE, NOT ESPECIALLY THOSE MEAD HOUSES OR INNS.  Oh, wate, wats dis.  Some1 just linked me 2 google images of “vikings” and “thor movie”  Adurg.”

Skyrim is the most boring shit ever.  Go play Morrowind or the Shivering Isles and see what ACTUAL “fantasy” should loo like.  A bunch of fucking viking longhouses that look identical to actual viking bullshit from our world is lame.

Oh yeah, and here’s the story.  Basically, you’re a prisoner who was rushed to Skyrim to meet a stupid 11/11/11 dead line, so everything is broken, half-unplayable, or impossible to complete.  Then you kill a Dragon named Deathwing, and noooo oneee givesa shiiiiiiit.  Not a single NPC will mention your heroic efforts.  GAME OVER YEAAAAAAAH!

Oh but, along the way you can find some “groves” that are “quite breath taking/stunning/beautiful” in the slightly updated Gamebyro engine its running on, and it looks like actual places in Norway/Alaska.

well said koadi. I would like to add….. after thoroughly blowing my mind by completing nearly all the side quests, many of the dungeons, and running willy nilly about the mountains, being continually impressed with the level of: oph look at that, what’s on that mountain top?”, i thought there was no more. I loved the oblivion walker achievment, because it took me through the exact types of quests that you say shiver isles presented you with. Then I stumbled upon Blackreach, the crazy glowing mushroom and red nirn root infested cave of ridiculous proportions. Mind completely re-detonated. this was exactly where my mind went reading this piece. I’m really having a hard time settling in my mind the fact that you let your previous bizarre experiences with oblivion ruin your enjoyment of skyrim, considering so much of skyrim caters exactly to what you’ve stated you enjoyed about oblivion.

I bought this game not b/c of any other elder scrolls. never got into them. I bought it for Bethesda, being a Fallout fan. Now, I’m an Elder Scrolls fan. This game is worth more than the money I paid for it.

Try start your story by getting Daedric artifacts,which is the most astonishing quests in my opinion, but if you really wants amazing places,I recommend you to start the Thives Guild Questline.In the end of this one,you will know what I am talking about.

I must admit both games are great but i do agree with author something about oblivion just sends a chill down my spine and i keep wanting to go back to it skyrim just hasnt done it as well for me i may be being stupid but i feel it is that due to the ultra fictional nature of the elder scrolls series the fact that skyrim is so lifelike it seems to take away from the game a bit. Thats my viewpoint differ all u want skyrim just wont make it for me as oblivion did…

PS
The armour in skyrim looks sooooooo much better

PSPS
I like the people and cities in oblivion more

i rly agree with you…But for me is  lil different…Cause There is so much to do in skyrim that you do nothing in the end and get bored…

Haha u should go explore blackreach… Way crazier looking than shivering isles

I put sooo many hours into Oblivion and loved every second of it. But unfortunately I felt as if Skyrim was simply a steroid pumped up version of Oblivion. I couldn’t bring myself to shell out the extra cash for Skyrim, not to mention I need to finish college. Skyrim might make that a little more difficult. 

Skyrim is just too easy. Add the fact that the UI is pretty crappy and it is a quest-spamming for little reward game, yes I see his point.

Took a little while to get old, mind you, the beginning was balanced good/hard.

tl;dr
authors a bitch

Go explore Blackreach if you get the chance and maybe you’ll dive into fantasy land again.

I have a quest for oyu in skyrim that nobody in the game will give you…find the fork of ysgramor, no joke I found it bt I wont say where

You guys are hopeless imbeciles. It’s his opinion; however, I agree with his thesis. Shivering Isles was insane. Leaving it, everything else just felt boring and predictable. Skyrim, to me, is just insuperior of a game in general. Everything is a step down, especially the guilds.

You couldn’t even state WHY you don’t want to play the game. What the heck kind of review is this? “I almost played Skyrim, but I got intimidated by the size, so here’s why it’s ruined.”

You DO come across as the guys who wail each time there’s an expansion to an MMO as “everything you worked for has to be done again” well… if you don’t want to… DON’T.

To paraphrase: “It’s an incredably huge gaming world to explore but after the last few I really can’t be bothered”… I hope you aren’t being paid to produce “articles” like this?

James, im going to have to totally agree with you. Im a hardcore elder scrolls fan, played since arena and all the games just got better from there, things developed exponentially and immersed me in ways i cant even describe, so imagine my excitement when i got Skyrim (a day early from a seedy little game shop) and put it into my Xbox 360…within 2 days i completed the main story, over a period of 2 years it took me to complete oblivions main story, so im safe to say i was thoroughly disappointed with the ending, i didn’t bull rush through the main quest out of enjoyment, i did it hoping there was something gonna grip me further in, it never did. I still stand when i say that Skyrim is one of the most beautiful and filled games ive ever played, i didn’t want this game to be the same as Oblivion or Morrowind, i wanted it to be better.

 It wasn’t. but whats worse is that i cant put my finger on why, there was just something about oblivion that was truly unique, maybe the fact that Skyrim was using all the original fantasy mechanics that have been done over and over again..example; People in danger from monster, chose one arrives to fight monster, Chosen one wins, yey. Oblivion you basically played an average guy/gal who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and sucked into events that didn’t concern him/her. Or maybe its because that Skyrim is one MASSIVE racist punchline, i mean really, i didn’t want anything to do with Khajiits or Orcs, i felt like i should be racist to them, and i understand that Bethesda probably wanted the player to feel like that but it in know way contributed to your character or his/her “destiny”. all in all i think it just didn’t have the right mechanics and its no fault of the development team’s, its just we didn’t react the way we expected ourselves to.

Dude, try Morrowind again. Alien landscapes with odd flora and fauna are its forte, and with architecture to match. 

well i have both but i never ben in sivring island i have the add pack but i dont want to go there until its complete oblivion then shiv then skyrim sr but both games are awsome but play darksoul if you wanna play a real rpg its the hardest game ever i swear i have play all elders game and now i go for darksoul and skyrim 

You obviously haven’t discovered Blackreach then. It’s about the size of, Eastmarch Hold I’m guessing? Except one thing.
IT’S UNDERGROUND.

Personally, I found it hard to enter the world of Morrowind after playing Oblivion…I too went through Shivering Isles and spent about 40 hours there alone…however, Skyrim is amazing.  I love sandbox games and developers have created an incredible world here too.  Like many have stated, give it a try…things superficially look bland, for it’s a northern territory, but there are hidden areas that are just as magical as Shivering Isles.

cheers,

SEADRIVE

the real game is far more intense when you skip story missions u miss most of the good stuff the thing about skyrim is u can finish the story missions and keep playing. whichever you decide is the real story whether it be the imperials and stormcloaks or the attack of the dragons. i also have skipped the story missions to level and experience everything now its become an ultimate thirst for power and adventure because skyrim is so diverse that any two caves are nothing alike. there are giant grotos that are literally breath taking and some that make you kinda akward due to massive amounts of body parts and torture scenarios 

This is one opinion that should have been kept to one’s self. Now you sound like a complete moron. “Oh i hate the game because there’s so much to do!”, “0.1% of the game i played was worse than my Oblivion experience.” THESE ARE NOT VIABLE COMPLAINTS!!

You’re just a stupid democrat…I fully understand where he’s coming from with this article, because at times in massive games it’s almost like there isn’t a direction to go in. In this society we’re trained to do what someone tells us to. It is completely understandable to feel that way with as large of a game as Skyrim. Such an argument is what brought down the MMORPG Star Wars: Galaxies.

Why, I thought he wrote very well.

“We” think thats just the insanity inside you finding a home in the shivering isles. “We” bet you went manic? “We” are always right, “we” are. :)

I just started to play an amazing and greatly anticipated game, then put it down without exploring it’s myriad facets and wrote an entire article about my sloth regarding said game.

well even i can relate slightly to the whole.. oblivion wasn the same after you finished playing through the shivering isles quest line however.. got a tid bit of info look up Skyrim/Oblivion mods.. there free and you can “reemerse yourself in the game the way you want thousands of mods to fix whatever the issue is heck thats one of the reasons i play the game the story.. the graphics are all good for Vanilla however.. after modding it to a surtain point.. i was able to make the graphics for both skyrim and oblivion even more breath taking.. adding different weapons.. and armor as well as other continents (oblivion) and other maps and dungeons (both) so retry either of the two games.. play the quests.. theres alot of freaky and funny quest line humour heck you realy want something fun ( check out the dark brotherhood quests) but still play a game emerse yourself in it before you talk about your issues with it..

i think personally that your all being a lil too harsh on the fella here. his point is legit… even if a little silly. i say this because i have had the same problem too, but with other games like Final Fantasy and Fallout, along with Dark Souls and a few others that apply, but aren’t worth mentioning.

he’s not saying that skyrim is a bad game or that it doesnt have anything to do, its quite the opposite really. skyrim has shit tons to do and is lots of fun to play as well, but i have already in under a month come to the same conclusion as him. which is … Meh!. not meh! in a bad way, but meh! in the sense that he, like myself, keeps finding himself better things to do than play skyrim.

its sorta like fallout 3 and and New Vegas. both are great games with lots to do, but one thing stays the same between them amongst all the changes… its a game built on one basic principle…. “Leave it to Beaver”. which gets slowly boring after a while. Elder Scrolls has this issue as well. aside from companions and enemies… there is no true A.I in these games. all the NPC’s are like tall, living signboards/questboards that walk around a bit and maybe do something repeatedly over and over to make them look more real.
shivering isles like he is saying, gave the game some life, or at least made it more life like. i mean… who could forget the fork. fallout new vegas is similar in the manner of which i had more fun playing the expansions than the original game itself. 

basically it all comes down to preferences. for example. i would rather play FFXI online. the game that came out 10 years ago for ps2/pc and eventually 360, than play FFXIV or WoW. why… because 1 its familiar to me, 2 all the bugs/glitches and little problems that made it easy to hate in the beginning are gone now. and 3 its fun.  im sure that those three things can correlate to his love for oblivion and shivering isles over skyrim. once again not because skyrim is bad or anything. just its not what he loves to play… yet at least.

I can say honestly I hold the exact same opinion as the writer here, and you guys  are stuck on Skyrim hype and pretty graphics and failed to realize Skyrim, without the former perks, is quite a dull and tired game. There…I said it. I killed the world. The ones filled with…oh..my….trolls, wolves, bandits, droves and droves of faceless undead oh yeah..and dragons. They were cool looking, yes, of course. Like I said, Bethesda did the genre perfectly to a tee. Actually, they stayed so faithful to EVERY single fantasy that I found hardly any real feeling of discovery. The scant moments I thought I’d stumbled upon a side quest that was truly engaging, or involved surprising plot elements, were all to short lived and honestly, I would’ve been more content with a world a quarter of the size, with half the graphic quality…if only they would add more dimension to the almost limitless world they had at their fingertips to create. And what did they do? o.O…they made Conan the barbarian and Lord of the Rings. I just don’t know why people love this game so. We’ve seen all these stories a million times before. It’s as old as the knee joke that get’s passed around.  I loved the game at first. But just as the author noted, there’s just “too much to do” for which the pay off just dosen’t cut it. Bland and repetitive enemies (dragons only are fun for so long….they’re all the same.), too realistic of landscapes (beautiful at first until I realized I’ve seen it all before.) and hoards and hoards of 1-dimensional NPC’s…for which, regardless of their plentifulness, still collectively seem to not even arouse interest of any sort. (That even goes for the hot blond at the gates of Markarth. ) I played the main and a lot of the side quests. So don’t assume I didn’t. I just really think they had way more room for creativity and instead played every move as safely as possible. I think after fighting the 200th troll in a generic cave somewhere I realized I’d seen the game and was a little pissed I had put as much time into it for a lackluster experience in the end. 

Skyrim is fun, but it never ends.  The quests become repetitive after a while.  How many times do you have to kill that barbarian woman in Ivarstead?  How many times do you really need to find Red Eagle’s sword?  Finding the 24 Stones of Barenziah and the crown was fun.  Only problem is, it turns the treasure chests and burial urns into ridiculous decanters of gems.  My current character is level 52, and has at least 5 million Septims in loose gems sitting in my various houses throughout the realm.  The most fun place is Blackreach–trying to find the 30 Crimson Nirnroots and killing a bunch of Falmer.  I prefer story-driven plots rather than these never-ending hunt and fetch missions.  This is why Dragon Age: Origins is far, far superior, in my humble opinion.

necro- lol brian you’re a fucktard. maybe you should email him a list of your prerequisites before making his next review? skyrim is pretty shit in the 1st place based on the 2 seconds i’ve played 

I have to admit, after I finished Skyrim and got all the trophies, I went back to Oblivion.  This time using the OOO+MMM mods to make it even more immersive. I even added the 2gig texture pack to make it look a little more like Skyrim. What disappointed me about skyrim, was the shallow guild questlines.  It just didn’t seem epic enough before I became guild leader.  Both games you can level up enough to be like a god. Or in the case of Shivering isles, become a god. (sorry spoiler)