In The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, they establish in the first dungeon that looking at items in your inventory is possible, and might be required to solve puzzles in the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, they never once expand on this idea. Every single dungeon has the exact same puzzles - line up the stone pillars to match the pattern on the wall, then look at the claw in your inventory to line up the stone tumblers on the door. Imagine getting up to classic fantasy shenanigans like looking at a map under the light of the full moon to see the location of a secret passage, or a door that only opens when you speak a passphrase that you can learn from combing through the relevant library books and talking to the locals in the nearby town.
In general, I don't get how Skyrim is so well regarded. Like, its hardly a terrible game, but I've seen it as candidate for game of the decade (of the 2010s), and it still being popular and getting rereleases... and just do not understand.
I played it through when it first released, and it was fine, held my attention at least. But had no desire to play/explore more. Tried going back with a heavily modded experience, and just the core gameplay is pretty lackluster. Not that I'm telling people their fav is wrong, I just don't see what the appeal even is.
For a lot of normies, Skyrim was their first real open-world high-fantasy experience in a game. As you said, the gameplay (esp. combat) is lackluster but it's also very accessible compared to a lot of other games in the same genre.
As the other guy said, it was a lot of people's first exposure. 2014 and prior it sold 20 million copies; Oblivion, which was the Elder Scrolls game preceding it, has sold less than half of that for it's entire existence (and I'd argue it had more depth than Skyrim)
Yeah, I grew up with Morrowind, which I think is obviously deeply flawed in hindsight, but I felt had a lot more depth of story and setting to it; Oblivion was okay, though I hated the level-scaled enemies, and Skyrim is like, fine? But really feels like they've shed mechanics and world design over time.
Yeah; Skyrim shed repairing weapons and armor (which is fine, that was always just kind of a hindrance/busywork to me), but it also got rid of the ways you could non magically persuade people that were in Oblivion, and a lot of mysticism stuff/school of magic went out the window, not to mention a lot of other little things
Morrowind to Skyrim lends itself to an even more dumbed down feeling I'd imagine, since I know a lot of little things were removed from Morrowind to Oblivion (and Morrowind had the most atmospheric feel)
Repairing equipment I'm fine with losing, just a tax really. Same with Morrowind's not great combat; weapons had a miss chance based on skill, so at the start of the game, something like 85% of your attacks just missed. Biggest problem with the game IMO. Magicka was also a pain, only regened on sleep.
But at the same point, by not needing full voice acting, there is way more dialogue in Morrowind than Oblivion. And its dialogue system, while having a crude UI by today's standards, allowed for a lot more depth of conversation, allowing to ask after a bunch of words. Downside is non-unique NPCs had dialogue based on location, race, politics, ect. Which was kind of cool, as those conversation could be useful, but it did mean a dark elf of the same faction in the same location would have identical dialogue to another.
Then, like Skyrim shedding Oblivion's social spells, Oblivion shed a lot of Morrowind's spells, mostly movement related. Fly being the obvious one, but things like Jump and Mark/Recall were also nice.
Its not to say the newer games add nothing, but I feel like most of what they add is just presentation; so better UI, UX, graphics, voice acting. Skill perks are really the only standout as a true new mechanic. I guess maybe also horses? But spells/potions kind of fit that role of faster overland speed in Morrowind.
In The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, they establish in the first dungeon that looking at items in your inventory is possible, and might be required to solve puzzles in the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, they never once expand on this idea. Every single dungeon has the exact same puzzles - line up the stone pillars to match the pattern on the wall, then look at the claw in your inventory to line up the stone tumblers on the door. Imagine getting up to classic fantasy shenanigans like looking at a map under the light of the full moon to see the location of a secret passage, or a door that only opens when you speak a passphrase that you can learn from combing through the relevant library books and talking to the locals in the nearby town.
I think the recent Resident Evil games, both new and remakes, use this pretty frequently for puzzles?
Its a cool concept, feels very immersive-simulator esque even if Im not sure if any classic imsims have used this kind of stuff a lot.
In general, I don't get how Skyrim is so well regarded. Like, its hardly a terrible game, but I've seen it as candidate for game of the decade (of the 2010s), and it still being popular and getting rereleases... and just do not understand.
I played it through when it first released, and it was fine, held my attention at least. But had no desire to play/explore more. Tried going back with a heavily modded experience, and just the core gameplay is pretty lackluster. Not that I'm telling people their fav is wrong, I just don't see what the appeal even is.
For a lot of normies, Skyrim was their first real open-world high-fantasy experience in a game. As you said, the gameplay (esp. combat) is lackluster but it's also very accessible compared to a lot of other games in the same genre.
As the other guy said, it was a lot of people's first exposure. 2014 and prior it sold 20 million copies; Oblivion, which was the Elder Scrolls game preceding it, has sold less than half of that for it's entire existence (and I'd argue it had more depth than Skyrim)
Yeah, I grew up with Morrowind, which I think is obviously deeply flawed in hindsight, but I felt had a lot more depth of story and setting to it; Oblivion was okay, though I hated the level-scaled enemies, and Skyrim is like, fine? But really feels like they've shed mechanics and world design over time.
Yeah; Skyrim shed repairing weapons and armor (which is fine, that was always just kind of a hindrance/busywork to me), but it also got rid of the ways you could non magically persuade people that were in Oblivion, and a lot of mysticism stuff/school of magic went out the window, not to mention a lot of other little things
Morrowind to Skyrim lends itself to an even more dumbed down feeling I'd imagine, since I know a lot of little things were removed from Morrowind to Oblivion (and Morrowind had the most atmospheric feel)
Repairing equipment I'm fine with losing, just a tax really. Same with Morrowind's not great combat; weapons had a miss chance based on skill, so at the start of the game, something like 85% of your attacks just missed. Biggest problem with the game IMO. Magicka was also a pain, only regened on sleep.
But at the same point, by not needing full voice acting, there is way more dialogue in Morrowind than Oblivion. And its dialogue system, while having a crude UI by today's standards, allowed for a lot more depth of conversation, allowing to ask after a bunch of words. Downside is non-unique NPCs had dialogue based on location, race, politics, ect. Which was kind of cool, as those conversation could be useful, but it did mean a dark elf of the same faction in the same location would have identical dialogue to another.
Then, like Skyrim shedding Oblivion's social spells, Oblivion shed a lot of Morrowind's spells, mostly movement related. Fly being the obvious one, but things like Jump and Mark/Recall were also nice.
Its not to say the newer games add nothing, but I feel like most of what they add is just presentation; so better UI, UX, graphics, voice acting. Skill perks are really the only standout as a true new mechanic. I guess maybe also horses? But spells/potions kind of fit that role of faster overland speed in Morrowind.