November 24, 2011 2:01 PM EST
Unlike many here I am sad to report I will not be playing this game for years.
I will admit, it is great, the visuals, all that. But in the words of Todd Howard "It's more like Fallout than Oblivion", I loved the Elder Scrolls, not the Fallout series. I know some things needed fixing in the old games, so here's my thoughts upon why Skyrim did not make the cut for me.
As I journeyed within the land of Skyrim I realized something was missing, and I couldn't place my finger on it. It was a Bethesda title, It was an Elder Scrolls game, it had the Elder Scrolls roaming style .. But what was missing?So I turned off my console and sat down and thought it out.
Some of the things that bummed me out was the Dungeons, Yes big improvement. But the game now seems tailor made for JUST dungeons, I haven't done so many dungeon and castle quests since I've started the TES series back in Morrowind.
It felt to .. to much, every side quest, every main mission, it was a dungeon. I became increasingly angry at fighting Skeletons and Draugr's.
Another thing came to mind, as wandering the land of Skyrim all I ever came upon were dungeons, ruins of some kind, castles with bandits or so forth.. There was no random humor at all, no wizard falling from the sky, No obscure sayings, everything felt TO REAL, To be Real.
Stiff one might say. There was no random goofiness.
No black and white perspective of bad guys and good guys that make you feel good or bad. (Yes I get the whole Imperial vs Stormcloak thing, thought it was cool, loved the realism but there is some good things to black and white perspectives at times)
Not to mention the leveling system makes you level Waaayyy to Fast for a TES game, it didn't feel like I deserved the level at all. It was a real achievement to level up on the old games, and it felt good. Now its just the usual..
They over simplified, and dumbed the game down waayy to much. Well.. there is complexity but for instance I kinda do miss making my own spells, but I get how they were just trying to make cool spells for us, its fine.
But the amount of armor, weapons etc. doesn't seem so big compared to the other games as well.
Now I know Im complaining but I miss the old TES games and I feel they strayed from the plan.
One thing that had me REALLY Irked was how every quest given by an npc is about fifty miles away and (Usually in a dungeon, ugh) complex. There wasn't that goofy bit of the old games, of stealing or just setting sheep on fire or something.
And it was never local! I hated traveling in the end from it and just fast traveled everywhere.
There needs to be more senseless quests! I realized I ended up fearing to shoot and steal from/at people and so forth in the game as well due to the fact they all almost offered a quest and I didn't want to miss out on something.
Oh and the talk options I couldn't get over, I mean talking was all good but just seeing some citizens and trying to say hi and they just pause, say something and move on felt.. well less talkative. I liked how we actually had options with everyone in the old games, Though they could've been senseless options they were still there.
The main quests were way to short, I find that the old games long quests made me feel really like a 'God sent' traveler. And that these were just.. well short and action oriented, not saying its a bad thing but they really forgot how in the old games there was more than just action! There was humor/satire, good guys and bad, well you get the idea.
And last but not least of my 'Complaints' is the shouts,
I really found that having to unlock shouts through the main quest was tedious, I wanted to jump right in with powers, so I hated making new characters.
Anyways I realize many of you probably have different opinions, and probably think Im whining but I really think they strayed and left the formula. I will keep playing (I beat both main quests, most side missions etc. already) and keep an open mind, but If it doesn't change soon, if there is more dungeons to come I think I might turn it off for a while.