Skyrim

[Konebred]

Fun sandbox type rpg, was wondering if anyone else was playing it? Named my first dude sigmund just to see how it looked through his eyes. It was kinda fun chopping up people way lower level than him.

[TehDruid]

Is it too similar to Oblivion? I wasn't terribly fond of it. Felt kinda boring and the monsters levelling up with you made it even more lame. It was easier to stay at lvl 1 and do stuff rather than lvl up...

Dragon Age: Origins, although very lame in some aspects (no explorable sandbox universe, character customization in terms of skills/abilities/talents sucked imho), set the quality bar too high for me with its awesome story, when we're talking about modern CRPGs. Haven't played the 2nd one though. Or any other recent CRPG, for that matter. My laptop is having problems with crashing into graphics test mode when playing games or videos or even at totally random points. Argh!

[Galefury]

It's much better than Oblivion. But mostly fun because of the sandbox style and exploration of the beautiful game world, the combat and story are mostly not very interesting. Some of the quest lines are very cool, but i found the main quest to be extremely generic so far.

[AtT]

Thats a shame but I still have high hopes for the game (I haven't bought it yet) though I personally consider Oblivion to be trash when compared with Morrowind. Did they fix the leveling system?

[greepish]

Not likely. Elder scrolls games are the only games where I consider cheating just fine. I mean... you could put a rock on a button and go watch a movie, or just use a console command. Or you can play through the whole game and not level in any of the stuff you seem to use regularly.

[varsovie]

Did they fix the leveling system?

They broke it even more. -_-

We should smite those developers, the game is beautiful, but TOO easy. And the technical aspects aren't shining too. Poor textures, long loading (for what?) and a GUI worse than nethack.

I don't even want to play it, the witcher, dragon age origin, gothic 3, lot of roguelikes, and soon http://www.grimdawn.com/ will fulfill my needs in (a)rpg until the end of the world.

[Konebred]

Yah after messing around with a couple different characters I have to say it's a pretty amazing game if like giant sandbox type games with real depth and tons of detail. The only problem I have is how easy it is. It's my first elder scrolls game and I have blown through just about everything except for a couple early hagravens. (nasty spellcasters). There are a couple of crafting skills that are insanely easy to take advantage of too, so once you do you really don't have to worry about gold again. That part kinda made the game feel watered down, but I also understand you want the players out exploring this huge ass world too.

[Sealer]

If you want to play Skyrim, but haven't played Witcher 2: Assasins of kings, you should do that instead. The game is insane. Easily beat both dragon ages for me in both story, character development, script, combat and pretty much everything apart from inventory management.

[Galefury]

If you want to play Skyrim, but haven't played Witcher 2: Assasins of kings, you should do that instead. The game is insane. Easily beat both dragon ages for me in both story, character development, script, combat and pretty much everything apart from inventory management.

QFT. TW2 has some problems too, but it's much better than Skyrim in most regards, especially after the bunch of patches it got.

[AtT]

Hmm how is TW2 compared to Morrowind?

Also, is Skyrim worth a buy? or should I just visit the piratebay. I was (and still am, really) planning on paying for it, although I've heard some disappointing news about the ease of play. Bah I still gotta buy it anyway I like Bethesda, although I don't necessarily approve of the direction that ES is going in. What do you think. Worth a buy?

[varsovie]

Hmm how is TW2 compared to Morrowind?

Also, is Skyrim worth a buy? or should I just visit the piratebay. I was (and still am, really) planning on paying for it, although I've heard some disappointing news about the ease of play. Bah I still gotta buy it anyway I like Bethesda, although I don't necessarily approve of the direction that ES is going in. What do you think. Worth a buy?

Wait for the Black Friday promos.

[Galefury]

TW2 is far more linear than the elder scrolls gamesl. There's lots of stuff to do, but at some point you have to do the current chapter's main quest and move on to the next chapter. Also (if you're into that sort of thing) the roleplaying aspects are far more limited. You are playing Geralt, not some nameless prisoner fresh off the boat. On the other hand the decisions you do get to make in TW2 have far more impact on the game than anything you do in Morrowind. Simply put, TW2 is not a sandbox game. It is only open within each chapter. I actually really like that approach, it dodges many of the pitfalls of nonlinear gameplay.

Leveling is also far less annoying, you don't need to worry about gaming the system to get the biggest stat gains like in Morrowind. Get enough exp (mostly from quests), pick one upgrade, done. Combat can get quite difficult depending on the chosen difficulty setting, but is at its most difficult in chapter 1 (even on a second playthrough). It is done with a sword and several distinct and useful spells. Almost all moves and spells are available from the start (confusing!), but can be upgraded considerably. I found combat to be quite tactical (getting surrounded = death sentence), but reflexes also help. With bad tactics it tends to be very hard to luck your way through a fight on the higher difficulties, and figuring out what do do in certain fights can be frustrating. There are also bombs, traps and potions, but of those I only found bombs to be of much use.

Whether Skyrim is worth buying (and at what price) depends entirely on what you want out of a game. It's a good game, but crawl is much better, and free . Skyrim is pretty and relaxing, though.

[pratamawirya]

Whether Skyrim is worth buying (and at what price) depends entirely on what you want out of a game. It's a good game, but crawl is much better, and free . Skyrim is pretty and relaxing, though.

hahaha

[Blade]

crawl is much better, and free .

If that was part of my criteria for game purchases, I wouldn't buy many games.

[Grimm]

There are sufficient quality free games available that one never need spend a penny.

[greepish]

Personally I just lag behind on buying games by a decade. Getting awesome games like deus ex, bioshock, xcom, etc on steam for like 5 bucks on a sale, or getting them as free hand-me-downs from friends, sure beats spending 50.

[Blade]

There are sufficient quality free games available that one never need spend a penny.

True, but that means missing out on many incredible games that do cost money. The knowledge that one (or two, or five) great game is free should not stop anybody from purchasing other great games.

Personally I just lag behind on buying games by a decade. Getting awesome games like deus ex, bioshock, xcom, etc on steam for like 5 bucks on a sale, or getting them as free hand-me-downs from friends, sure beats spending 50.

Ah, but then you miss out on the social aspect. None of your friends are going to want to talk to you about some decade-old game.

(Personally, I have a mix of all three. Crawl, Zelda-A Link to the Past, Portal 2...plenty of great games at varying costs from varying times)

[AtT]

There are sufficient quality free games available that one never need spend a penny.

Every game is free if you're into that sort of thing. Companies I support, I buy. Games that are just for messing around, I download. I do support Bethedsa, so if I choose to play Skyrim, I will purchase it, not steal it.

[Grimm]

For the record I don't mean stealing, I mean indie/open source stuff.

[Sealer]

TW2 is far more linear than the elder scrolls gamesl. There's lots of stuff to do, but at some point you have to do the current chapter's main quest and move on to the next chapter. Also (if you're into that sort of thing) the roleplaying aspects are far more limited. You are playing Geralt, not some nameless prisoner fresh off the boat. On the other hand the decisions you do get to make in TW2 have far more impact on the game than anything you do in Morrowind. Simply put, TW2 is not a sandbox game. It is only open within each chapter. I actually really like that approach, it dodges many of the pitfalls of nonlinear gameplay.

Leveling is also far less annoying, you don't need to worry about gaming the system to get the biggest stat gains like in Morrowind. Get enough exp (mostly from quests), pick one upgrade, done. Combat can get quite difficult depending on the chosen difficulty setting, but is at its most difficult in chapter 1 (even on a second playthrough). It is done with a sword and several distinct and useful spells. Almost all moves and spells are available from the start (confusing!), but can be upgraded considerably. I found combat to be quite tactical (getting surrounded = death sentence), but reflexes also help. With bad tactics it tends to be very hard to luck your way through a fight on the higher difficulties, and figuring out what do do in certain fights can be frustrating. There are also bombs, traps and potions, but of those I only found bombs to be of much use.

Pretty much this fella over here has it right.

Here are some random tidbits and comparisons.

There is less focus on sandbox gameplay, but more focus on story, atmosphere, dialogues and tactical combat. There is a good alchemy system in the game (the one in Morrowind was so exploitable it was pretty much a joke for me). In my opinion the story of Morrowind was completely uninvolving, and I'd rather check out the world instead, and quickly figured out that to level up your skills you grind (particularly the most annoying parts of the system for me was stat distribution and levelling skills like stealth or archery. Later I found out how to exploit alchemy to gain stupid amount of gold and just bought my skills.). TW2 has a more straightforward approach in terms of levelling, you gain a level - you gain a talent you can put in 1 of a lot of skills in the vast skill tree. Not too complicated, but it works, especially since you get an enourmous amount of stuff to choose from.

So yes, do not expect a fully sandbox game. However, the game's main tasks are mostly open to approach at any time and you can explore the beautiful world of the game, or search for sidequests (if you're into that). IMO the interface is a little worse than in Morrowind, the game has a few issues with that such as it is not possible to mark a place on your map, and there's some unnecessary inventory management, but apart from that it's simply a great game, with an amazing atmosphere and a story and script that occasionally made my jaw hit the floor. It is quite different then Morrowind which IMO was more of an experimental sandbox type of game that was giving you a lot of options, but not a lot of directions.

It's still a fantasy RPG, and a fantastic one at that in my opinion.

[AtT]

For the record I don't mean stealing, I mean indie/open source stuff.

I know. indie games seem to be the best. I'm gonna check out this full conversion oblivion mod: (Nehrim)
http://nehrim.de/infosEV.html
Should be like Oblivion but less broken and more like normal rpg leveling (exp and choosing skills instead of crazy broke grinding-encouraging skill based leveling) and I already have a copy of oblivion. (Bootleg copy this time but I've purchased it before) Also, like traditional rpgs, there is no mob level scaling. I think it's worth checking out if you like Morrowind or even Oblivion I'm going to give it a try tomorrow if I get a chance.

I've heard good things about Nehrim. Also, it is german (the voice acting is in german) but there is an English version with the text. I think that will be fun as well!

[Zelkelion]

Skyrim...

If I wasn't playing it on PC I would probably hate it. I'll be picking up every difficulty mod I can once they start pouring in. I already have one to slow skillgain. I don't want to end up doing some alchemy and having no combat stats after leveling three times from crafting...

Alchemy is again broken, as is the general economy. Pick flowers, make potions, sell, repeat. Seriously, the only checks in place to stop me from amassing a fortune involve mechanics like vendors running out of gold, being unable to carry a lot at once, and levelling due to crafting resulting in lack of combat skills.

I really enjoy this game, however, I am severely disappointed by the catering to a wider audience. It's designed to be console friendly, new player friendly, retard friendly, and casual friendly.

They really could have saved this game if there was a comprehensive difficulty adjustment mechanism. As it is I set it to Expert on my new game, but really that only affects combat and skills. I'm still being showered with magic items, ingredients, and potions. Once again, the only limiter in place for me is not being able to carry all the things I want.

Aside from the houses you can buy, there is little to spend gold on. I quickly disposed of my potions of haggling, they're just not necessary.

There are no stats any more, which may appeal to some but I find it frustrating. I never consider removing customization options an advancement, although some of my friends prefer this because there are less numbers involved (retard friendly >:D).

Play the game for a few hours and then tell me you don't want to mute every time you near an NPC. I swear, they have at MAX ten voice actors here. It's honestly disgusting for a game of this magnitude to have such blatantly thoughtless design behind it.

Sorry this turned into a rant, I'll stop myself here. I'm a pretty harsh critic, and while this is an excellent game, the designers have earned my contempt for being satisfied with the bare minimum in several areas. As I said in the start, I'm so grateful that I play this on PC so I can rely on my fellow players to add more depth and content. Just as it was in Morrowind and Oblivion.

[AtT]

I enjoy it so far but the goddamn spellcasting mechanic is so frustrating (as in all elder scrolls games) that I'm thinking of just dropping it all together and starting over as a melee oriented character. Why would they make is so annoying to simply move a spell into the right hand, and the time to switch spells is short but just long enough to make you miss the cast time. While casting in morrowind was even more frustrating (durr im out of magikaa, time to take a nap!) and I didn't do it in oblivion, I find it annoying to switch spells around, and with the perk emphasis on "dual casting" there is not really much reason to do the one hand this spell, one hand another spell thing. might as well not anyway if a pure caster. I guess the game's just forcing me into the more destruction oriented playstyle against my will because it is simply stronger in so many ways. I don't feel like I really get to do what I want, well I can, but it's not as good anyway. Still though, I've been thinking (when I get around to that level) that I could play a lot with paralyze in one hand and that wall of flames spell in the other. Wall of flames does a ton of damage (50 per sec) to enemies who stand in it, and paralyzed enemies would most certainly lay there for 10seconds(ish) tho I'm not sure how long the wall lasts. 500 damage seems like a lot anyway, though idk if this will work. It really seems like paralyze doesn't go very well with the alteration spells though.

With that said, I think Skyrim is a well made game and I do enjoy it. Hopefully some of the frustrating bits (for me) will be modded out in the future. Definitely worth playing, though I have to say, Morrowind will always be my first love.

Also Nehrim is pretty interesting as well :O

[greepish]

Broke down and got skyrim. Honestly screwing with the game seems to be more fun than playing it. I mean dang, look at this awesome video some guy made using console commands:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCgP5CV4YbE