SKYRIM Review (Remastered) - The Rageaholic
Vložit
- čas přidán 22. 08. 2014
- This is a re-upload of The Rageaholic's classic Skyrim review, in widescreen, with marginally-improved audio and added material.
Been meaning to do this for awhile: Hope you enjoy! - Hry
I love Skyrim. But I love what this guy has to say about it.
@Kristian Makai ?
@@SuperLumianaire don’t look up that site. These are bots that have been going around for a couple months. Really sketchy movie site that’s definitely illegal, also probably steal your info.
@@frederickthegreat2631 I figured as such.
You're not alone. I too enjoyed Skyrim
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
This aged like a fine wine
This is by far the most honest and accurate review of Skyrim. No fanboyism to be found. Bethesda dropped the ball on removing the custom classes. That's what made the past ES games replayable.
In Skyrim, you the player are responsible for building a character from scratch as you play. The level caps prevent you from fully leveling more than five to six perk trees. I am more than willing to admit that Skyrim has some major problems. But I really disagree with Razorfist's constant assertion that there's no replayability to be had in it. I have over twenty unique characters in Skyrim, each with wildly different play styles. Hell, Skyrim actually allowed me to do a few play styles that I had always wanted to do in past games but couldn't because of how those older games were set up. Is Skyrim the best game in the Elder Scrolls series? Likely not. Has it begun an ultimately ruinous trend for future Elder Scrolls games? That remains to be seen. But all I know is, I did enjoy it every bit as much as I did Oblivion and Morrowind despite it's tomfoolery.
Skyrim's classless system was liberating. Even in Oblivion where you could make your own class, it felt like the game was holding my hand. That was the problem I had while playing other class-based RPGs. In KOTOR, you either ended the game as a Jedi who is great with the Force, but bad with lightsabers, a Jedi who was good with lightsabers, but bad with the Force, or a Jedi that sucks at both with a few skills on the side. You have to game the system (read: exploit) in order to create a Jedi who is good with both the Force and the Jedi's signature glowstick. In Mass Effect 1 and 2, in order to be able to use tech powers or biotic powers, you had to give up your right to hold an assault rifle. In Skyrim, you can make any custom class you want by choosing a race and a guardian stone to go with it, and change on the fly. So no, I will say that Skyrim's classless system is a boon for RPGs, because in real life, you don't select classes, but accumulate skills. You could have someone who's an expert swordsman, martial artist, and gunman be good with computers and tech, not because he created a custom class for it, but because he trained with all those skills.
You make it seem as if classes in previous TES games are anyhow comparable to what you have in Mass Effect. Hint: They aren't.
Just as you said many classes in the first ME game (not so strict in later games) had weapon restrictions. You were unable to use, say, a sniper rifle at all if you weren't at least partially of soldier class.
As far as I know the last TES game with class-based gear restrictions was motherfucking Daggerfall.
Classes in Morrowind and Oblivion gave you a leg up in the beginning of a game and that's pretty much it. How you developed your character afterwards was completely up to you, because levelling attributes was entirely reliant on which skills you're using.
They didn't really remove the classes. The classes are just the races, now, with each one having natural advantages and disadvantages. I don't really see the difference. You don't start out a professional at anything in the other games, right? Just innately talented in specific skill sets.
@keller blair I don't know: berserker is pretty bad ass when you're an orc. And, when I was fighting dragons as a Breton, it was damn handy to be ice resistant, if not fire proof.
Thank Christ i've finally heard someone say it! I'm sick as hell listening to modder telling me to mod my games. I shouldn't have to download fan made content to fix the current game. Jesus Christ!
Ikr
+Shining Wolf The Elder Scrolls games have been on a downward decline ever since Morrowind. The more "streamlining" that the console-itis brings in, the more gets lost from the original formula.
Mods in bethesda games are ways to fix their broken products. Being able to custom-tune your own experience is certainly a good thing, but the baseline experience needs to be able to competently stand on it's own.
Another reviewer explained one of the problems like this: The plotline and quests in Skyrim are so immediate and rushed. Everything's urgent, and you don't have time to grow any roots in the setting. Morrowind, however, had breaks in the plot where you were supposed to do things around the city and get in the good graces of some faction or another.
That's without touching on the worsening interface issues as each successive game comes out.
Whiterun Guard
It's because you can't drag and drop with an xbox 360 controller, and they felt that they had to design the game to conform to the input method that had the least number of buttons.
Whiterun Guard
Huh... I guess I was wrong about that. It's been a while since I played that version of the game. Maybe it's because it doesn't let them show fancy 3d models of all the various knick-knacks that you put in your inventory.
***** Skyrim felt kind of simplistic, empty, and hollow to me. The menus were annoying to use on PC, especially the nightmare of trying to navigating the perk selection menu.
It's like how Fable 1, for the original xbox, was a great game for what it was, but it felt like an incomplete tech demo for a full version of the game.
I agree with your thoughts on Angry Joe's review. Ne really went overboard with that one.
Angry Joe is a huge Bethesda fanboy and casual. His fallout review is worst.
+iron mask of hell I disagree, his Dragon Age Inquisition is the worst. Basically the exact things he criticized about Fallout 4 he deliberately ignored in Dragon Age Inquisition.
Razvan Musat
True, but now that i think about it his skyrim review is worst. It had every problem and more problems than fallout 4 but he still gave it a 10/10. On fallout 4 it still had the problems and while he did not ignore them this time, he still gave them a free pass.
iron mask of hell Yeah, now that I think about it you are right. I mean, I personally agreed with him at the time he released that review, but I was 15 years old and had nowhere near the experience in playing video games as Joe, nor was I a critic. You'd think it would be obvious to someone who "played" so many games the amount of flaws Skyrim had, which I myself now see them. I guess for Joe the fun factor blinded him from seeing how streamlined the game was in comparison to its predecessors.
Razvan Musat
That is the biggest problem with Joe. It's that fun factor blinds him a lot. Even if he were to mention all the problems a game has, he would try to damage control them. Kinda like his last of us review. His defense for the weak combat was pretty much "i like the sounds".
I love it how Bethesda is remastering Skyrim on the current generation of consoles. Really? Remaster Skyrim? The game is not even that old and you're going to remaster it? For fucks sake remaster Morrowind, i've always wanted to play it.
Apparently they used Skyrim to test the new engine for Fallout 4 so they figured why not remaster the whole thing while they were at it.
Morrowind overhaul and OpenMW are going to be the closest remasters that you are going to get.
One word: SKYWIND ;)
The fans are already doing that with Skywind. Why should Bethesda waste time and money when the fans are already doing it for free?
Nolan Hickey will think no more considering you can play Morrowind on Xbox One because Morrowind was on the original Xbox not the Xbox 360 the original and that's how far back the backwards compatibility of the Xbox one
I LOL'ed at the end about PC Gaming Master Race. I play most on PC and that is sometimes how I feel. I mean the vanilla version should be good on it own. When a game requires you to mod it to become good. Well it's not. The mod is good. Modders should be the one making that game. Case in point: GTA IV pc port.
The remastered part in the title is funny now ;P
He really meant it when he said "Nostradamus step the fuck away", ay.
Razorfists McDonalds analogy was so good because in both situations you will arrive at a better product
Skyrim: A Role Playing Game without actual Role Playing.
Not really, role-playing does not refer a class, but to a role of any kind, essentially to a character. The change does not make it any less of a role-playing game(even though it does make it a worse game)
*****
In fact, it doesn't.
Just because you can cast spells or use bow & sword doesn't make it role playing.
A role playing game is one in which select a ROLE to play as.(aka class)
Skyrim is basically a medieval action game trying to pass itself as an RPG because you level up and get XP lmao.
Lethal Truth
That is beyond incorrect.
It's a ROLE playing game, not a class playing game. Even though that can technically encompass a most of games, RPG's without classes are no less rpg's than the ones with them, would you say the Mass Effect . Planescape: Torment, or the Witcher are not rpg's ?
Hell, even Elder Scrolls don't really have a rigid class system, it's mainly starting stats and traits, which you can modify before you start the play, which doesn't make it a class system as much as a predisposition system.
Even in Skyrim, different races have different bonuses, which to a certain point could be classified as a class system. Making an arbitrary distinction like that on what is and is not RPG is ridiculous.
Quite a few table top Roleplaying Games don't have bloody classes, and as computer ones are originally based on those, you can hardly argue that classes are a requirement.
Lethal Truth
Let us go point by point. D&d is not the only table top RPG, by your logic, Daggerfall is not RPG because it does not have turn based combat as D&D has.
So, does that mean, anything not high fantasy is not an RPG, or anything where you choose your class later on, or anything where classes have small disticntions ? Do you see where the problem is in drawing an arbitrary distinction like that ?
Is battlemage not a class because it is not a strictly traditional class ?
Where do you draw the distinction ?!
Do you seriously not see how that does not make any sense ?
Also, to bring back my previous point, is Planescape:Torment, the game based on fucking D&D not an RPG because you don't choose your character class ?
Or is Warhammer fantasy ROLEPLAYING not
a table top RPG because you don't pick classes at the start ?
Lethal Truth
Also, why the fuck do you assume that I think Skyrim progression system is good. I already said that I don't like it, it being shit does not make it not an rpg.
God damn i scared for Elder scrolls 6 after the mess that was Fallout 4
*cries as Fallout 76 .... happens*
@@imapopo2924 cries as Starfield happens
Oblivion was probably my favorite game in the series, but skyrim did a lot of things right as well.
+Agumon5
Like what?
Yeah some things were better.
But the atmosphere wasn't that bad, I remember clearly on my way to the college of winterhold walking through a snowstorm with my character.
I had the candlelight spell with me and the ambient music was some male choir which was awesome.
Bethesda has become the Metallica of RPG gaming. For the fanboyz: that's not a positive comparison.
Morrowind had the best opening. Straight to the point.
Super Skyrim Review Remastered Turbo Hyper HD Remix
Throw "deluxe" in there and I'm sold!
Rageaholic: Definitive Edition.
And I guess to replace the "classes", they think the race you decide determines your attributes to be boosted, not the classes, or lack thereof. Poor excuse, just include the class too, or did that interfere with their 11-11-11 launch deadline, so streamline away?
Still better than Elder Scrolls Online, at least you're not paying TWICE to play it. $60+ for the install disc and other stuff you don't care about and a monthly subscription to keep playing it is just a stupid decision.
Little known fact, shortly after posting this video Razor received a letter from Todd Howard that only contained the words "It Just Works".
I bought it for the Switch and I’m quite enjoying it
Skyrim is not a bad game, that isn't the problem, the problem is doing away with also all of the things that are the pillars of the Elder Scrolls series, and RPG in general.
For the love of god man, rip Fallout 4 and it's lack of proper dialogue and skills a new asshole. Howard is destroying 2 of my favorite series.
Canaris3 3 was alright, at least it felt like a proper entry. Fallout 4 isn't even an RPG.
***** Are you like... 12?
+NestorTheMolestor They ruined the skill system in fallout 4, probably so that people who don't know which end of a gun point at a raider can play.
+NestorTheMolestor It's the dialogue and skills that get to you? If the first thing you mention isn't the depressing lack of real side missions, you need to re-evaluate every decision you've ever made in your pathetic life.
Dusty McTits That comment was made before the game was made. Thanks for being a condescending douche, though. Now go on back to high school
The modding community needs to do DaggerRim.
I dont think even Bethesda could do that
I'd think Bethesda would need to rerelease Arena & Daggerfall to be more (look) like Morrowind, Oblivion or Skyrim before the modding community could do anything.
Daggerfall HD (with absolutely everything in the original Daggerfall) with high-quality 3D models and minimal loading times. That'd be a challenge, even 10 years from now.
20K miles compared to the 30.. (no k's) miles of Skyrim.
The budget and time required to make that would be so large, it's arguably not even worth it
I liked it but it is my first Elder Scrolls game
+Nicholas Perry Definitely go back and give the others a shot. Like I said, Skyrim isn't bad. But the previous games have some great features, removed from Skyrim, that the Elder Scrolls fans miss tremendously.
+The Rageaholic Although I enjoyed Skyrim, my definite favorite is Morrowind. If only because Daggerfall always glitched my saves to death.
+TheRagebear Let them bring back good storytelling while they're at it.
+haxorus 29 i have to agree morrowind is my favorite as well. It was mys first elderscrolls game technically but since i was young when it came out i couldn't really get anywhere so i kinda wrote it off and fell in love with oblivion later on. That said i played through it recently and holy fuck the world building is awesome, everything kicked skyrim (which i did play a 100 something hours of) in the ass even though i did get lost quite often.
+Nicholas Perry I think that's why Skyrim was so succesfull really. It was probably the first of the games for most of the people who bought it. And gaming is a lot more mainstream these days than it used to be.
Now for the Skyrim review aniversary edition.
until now i'd never realized how the lack of a class system suggests that the dragonborn had done the bare minimum for his entire life in the way of improving his skills up until the moment he was scooped up by that imperial ambush and almost executed.
@@fantasticfrank85fantastic61 the only explanation there can be is that he's the avatar of the player who had just manifested out of nowhere.
@@snowcloudshinobi Proof positive that Elder Scrolls is really an Isekai.
4:01 he just predicted Chainsawman. He is a Nostradamus!!
The removal of the class system and spell crafting is indefensible.
NOW IN STUNNING HIGH DEFINITION
The game is not bad. Not even mediocre, but I feel like getting rid of the class system was a terrible idea. You gotta love the bullshit defense mechanism "but it gives the players more freedom." If anything I feel like having a class to focus on major skills, as well as minor skills, makes it easier and more immersive that your character is good in only a certain set of skills. Instead we're stuck with no class system and you can ve good at everything like Rey "Skywalker"
Its just zoomed in a bit lol. Causing it to be fuzzy.
That PC Master Race bit at the end was fucking glorious.
You know, I've been playing Skyrim a lot (mostly cuz it's the only game I have, long story) when I saw this video again and a lot of what you said was right. It's even more bad because I'm an indesicive person, so trying to play a certain way or getting to the good shit takes a fuck long way to get. I did try Oblivion and although it was like, two hours, I felt like I was having a goal and reaching it within a reasonable time (being a certain type of character). I love Skyrim, but being on the console does restrict me from trying to make a more immserive experiance because sometimes I'm just taken out of it, looking from the outside in, just droning along between different places.
Also, so true about the PC Peasant Race.
Skyrim Review: God Fucking Speed Edition.
I love this review, classes are pretty important in a fucking ROLE PLAYING GAME. Just sayin'.
I agree with how tedious the intro is, thankfully though I use the Alternate Start Mod on PC. Way easier to make a character and adds much more role play to your character.
None of us could have prepared for the nightmare to follow in the intervening years.
I like my mods that allow me to skip the opening.
Fuck yes! I tell yeah, after dealing with some fuck heads today it is great to sit back and watch a raging Rageaholic video! By far one of my CZcams favorites! FUCK yeah, bring it!
No more hate im done
If you had to rate Skyrim based on your Elder Scrolls retrospective, what would it be?
I would give it 3,5 rats out of five. I would have give it 4,5, but because of pointless streamlining, the rating stays the same.
Maxiga I could agree with that rating.
The vanilla game is boring as hell, on PC with tons of mods, it is quite fun. Compared to previous ES,FO games I just couldn't get into it, it just didn't "feel" right, I can't really describe it.
I feel your pain...
My first play through made me completely, and I mean completely disagree with this but, as I went on making multiple characters I realized you were almost 100% right. The terrible intro makes me barf every time I see it, I was upset about the lack of classes when I realized I was literally making them on my own, I hated the dumbed down features, and did I mention I miss classes?
The magic system is next to useless as well. I wanted to be sorcerer but the offensive spells were so pitifully weak even after upgrading them that you'd have to resort to finishing off enemies with the melee attacks.
Bang on as usual. Playable, but could have been a lot better. All of the great sounding lore they forgot to ever mention in a normal capacity was completely forgotten. What we got out of the snow elves was lazy and boring. Plenty to tell, nothing told. I sat through the game with enemies chanting "I'll send you to Oblivion." saying to myself "fuck yeah, I'd much rather play that game!". ;
Do not streamline the fuck out Fallout, Bethesda. Sort the shooting out so it's a little more competent, get the TPS up to 2007 standards, and give us a more organic world. If I'm walking around getting nothing but head shots 5 levels into the game with nothing but my fist, I'll be a little ticked. Make me feel like I'm in a wasteland, not a rushforthealienblasterlandwithallthecapsintheworldin20minutes land.
Razor, we love you!! Keep up the good work, brother!
The mod argument is valid - Oblivion was the opposite of Role-playing with its linearly leveled world - "Oh shops are selling ebony armor now!" Go into the world and every fucking scrub road bandit is wearing the shit. FUCK THAT. The late game was only made rewarding with unleveler mods. Wait six months after release and everything you disliked can be fixed with an afternoon on the nexus site. That means more than almost ANY release day level of quality - deal with it.
Yea - because they make games for Normie X001 gamer nowadays. Sad but true.
The main problem with Skyrim (or any Bethesda game) is, you need to mod the game heavily. Not just to fix bugs and gameplay, but to make it an actually good game. From companions that are actually worth more than pack mules (Lydia) to improved gear, homes,skills, even better beginnings (Alternate start: Live another life mod). You also may have to use mods and the cheat console to keep your character from turning into a Mary Sue / Marty Stew.
You raise valid points, but I still like the game. Missing class system is okay with me. Just means I can do EVERYTHING on one character, which I can appreciate.
Waspinator1998 The way I saw it, you could already do everything on one character in Oblivion with enough grinding. The perk system and choosing health, magicka or stamina system actually *limited* a player's ability to make a broken character like they could in Oblivion.
You really can't. Hybrids become so weak later on that the only real choice is to specialize in a few skills.
Mods are the only thing that redeem this travesty of an Elder Scrolls Game
I had looked for this review yesterday and was wondering if you were remastering like some of the others.
Had a good laugh at the General cat from the movie Cat's Eye (4:28).
I can see why you would call it streamlined and, in a way, I can agree. However, it is also the opposite. While the missions may usually play out the same way, the world is open to you from the momment the intro ends. You can go wherever you want on the map.
It's quite a paradox.
Yes it is a paradox, but that paradox came for poor game design with the missions and dungeons. Skyrim is still not a bad game, in fact I still love playing it. However, it is a massive let down in the series. It felt like Bethesda tripped over its own ego and rolled down hill into a shit filled ditch. I feel that Oblivion did a lot wrong, but it was still far better than Skyrim and still felt like an Elder Scrolls game.
BTW, Love the Panne icon. She gets very little attention from the Fire Emblem community and is one of my favorite Awakening characters.
Amazing!
+The FleshEatingMouse This video is.
I can rewatch Razor reviews all day. :)
It's pretty obvious why you couldn't move around at the beginning of the game. You start off as a prisoner, like every ES game before. It elevated that sense of freedom you get when you finally do break free. Plus it allows Bethesda to set the tone and lore so you know exactly what kind of game world you're diving into. I thought it was well done and exciting.
But if you compare the opening of Skyrim to the other Elder Scroll games, you'll notice that you get much more freedom. Not only are you able to actually control your character in 3 and 4, you get to have dialogue and they both turn into actual gameplay much faster than Skyrim. Not to mention Daggerfall where you are given full control immediately after creating your character, so there are ways that you can be a prisoner, but not have an opening like Skyrim.
You don't get sense of freedom in Skyrim when you break free because you never lost it to begin with.
You began as a prisoner and in 5-10 minutes you get to go free where ever you want.You think it was well done?Well you don't know what you are talking about.
and after 2 hours you go back to the "plot", for five minutes... and that it.
I definitely understand all of your points, and I acknowledge that Skyrim is by no means a flawless game, or the best ES game for that matter, but it was the first ES game for me, so the animations and story-telling, though clunky and inconsistent, was pretty impressive at the time. I assume the intro is part of Bethesda's streamlining of their games so it'll seem more appealing to newcomers, and it worked for me. Just because you find the intros of previous entries better, doesn't mean this one is necessarily bad. I can still say it was well done because consistent sense of freedom or not, I still had a ton of fun playing the game and the intro definitely helped hype things up.
The Tapsy
its bad, and the even in 2011 Skyrim is pretty "Meh".
Honestly, the health regen helps a lot on master and legendary mode.
I was actually happy that for once there wasn't a need to stick with one class since most other RPG's make you choose one class and if you don't like you need to restart the game after already being 5 hours deep. Also i have no need to restart the game with another class because you can easily get 100+ hours just with your first character and still not complete everything.
However there where two things I didn't like the bugs that didn't let me finish certain missions and the simple combat system. but it was by far the best game for me that year that came out.
that audio clip in the first few seconds. where is that from i have heard it in a lot of videos lately but can't find it's origin.
shit, I genuinely forgot i bought this game (2 months before this re-upload).
I have seen this video way more times than I have launched the game (zero and counting).
Am glad to report it was 95% off or something but still feel like I was dumb to ever bother.
8:32 9:02
Bohemia in a nutshell
Weirdest thing about remaster was the introduction of mods. I'm a console man so this was my first experience with mods. Some genuinely make the game a better, while others... Well let's just say that I've come to understand that Skyrim mods is a sea of pervs.
I would love to hear your opinions on the Skyrim Mod: Enderal - The Shards of Order.
It was the reason I bought Skyrim in the first place. Could not play it yet because of the lack of anything to play it on.
This was a hillariously welld done review that I disagree with in just about every way imaginable.
10/10
Would thumbs up again.
I so clearly remember how insanely OTT the games media jizzed over this game.
Like everytime else I got caught up in the hype and bought it, and even then I thought it was a mediocre game that didn't look very good.
Considering the train-wreck TES:O supposedly is according to many others (I don't play MMORPGs myself) this video holds up to your promise: It goes down fast when it comes to TES-Games. Well, thanks to mods I can enjoy a top-modern Morrowind even in 2014 still.
I enjoyed the fact that Stephen Russell is in Skyrim.
Your angry joe cracks are hilarious
So... do we get Skyrim Review (special edition) now?
Do you have any view on the Zoe Quinn debacle or do you want to keep Big Brother's eyes off you?
After seeing the Elder scrolls online, I feel the need to quote your last sentence.
I'd hesitate to refer to skyrim as an RPG. It's more of an adventure game with light RPG elements, and in that regard it does that job well.
did you do a comparison of fallout 3 vs. fallout 4 call of doody edition?
Ha he just changed the name much in the same was as Bethesda. Shine on you crazy diamond
I'd love to see a remastered version of the MMX3 review too.
Actually...I'd love to see the Silent HIll Retrospective remade/remastered too. Due to the new movie as well as that smooth voice being louder in new videos.
Well, *technically* you don't have a "class", but the re-playability is still there. The Breton I started with in my first campaign was resistant to magic, had the oakskin special ability that makes him a slab of granite to fight, and I had was naturally talented at magic: so, basically, I had the skills of a warrior and a warlock; but when I found out the second time I played---because I wanted to play as a chick---my skill set changed dramatically. As an orc, I had the most balls-to-the-wall special ability a tank could ask for, berserker; which doubled my strength and made all-but immune to damage while I was in agro mode; by then everyone who fucked with me, and their incontinent Beagle who once *glanced* at my lawn, is usually dead. I was able to take out an entire *mercenary guild* with berserker. Guys my level with armor 50+ above mine were slapped around like total bitches! See, the re-playability is *there* it just depends on your race more than your class; which vary radically.
If you're an argonian, you almost never have to deal with wolves or saber tooth lions or spiders or dragons: because you can breathe underwater and almost everywhere you need to be is at least somewhat close to a river. If you're a khajit you're good at lock picking, stealing shit and mixing sweet skooma. Etc. etc. you get the point.
I will always love Skyrim because they finally made Orcs look cool. And Orcs deserve to look badass. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
8:45 truth
I buld working rigs to pay others to make my games for me, not to play "spot the install overlap" with mods that all claim they will ~fix~ or ~improove~ the base game while overqriting 3/4 the base-game file structure (nexus helps but it's not perfect).
I think the main reason i never played skyrim is because oblibion modding drove me over the edge to where I even looking at in install icon for a bethesda title sends me into a trauma related tailspin.
The class thing was what got to me , I did not even feel like a battle mage. I just dropped the game. Mods could not save this game in my eyes.
While mods make the game far more enjoyable, with things like Live Another Life, Frostfall, and other various mods, its unquestionable that mods shouldn't be necessary for the game to be good. While I'm a PC gamer primarily, it would be nice for the game to be an enjoyable experience on console, given the fact that console is just far more convenient.
part of why I make the most important save. save at end of that
I'm trying to make a "Han shot first" joke but I got nothing. Any one think of something?
Still found no redeeming quality to Skyrim to this day that isn't fulfilled better by multiple other games.
remasters never surpass the original
Never? Wind Waker, Resident Evil, and Metal Gear Solid 1 did it..
My God he knows the future
I'm not going to say Skyrim is flawless. It has plenty of flaws that are annoying, but so did the last few Elder Scrolls games. Plenty of people complained about Oblivion's broken leveling system but they all seem to conveniently forget that and jump on the h8 Skyrim bandwagon.
I don't understand why people can't just say it's a good but flawed game like all the past entries in the series. It's an 8/10 for me, and still addicting, even the Vanilla version. And yes, I sunk plenty of time into Oblivion but prefer Skyrim. It's more immersive and doesn't have a leveling system that makes me want to put my head through a wall.
I'll stipulate the opening is annoying until you get to pick your race and trick out your character. But it turns out there's a way, once you start to move, that you can reach 100 in sword fighting or whatever before you leave Helgen: because the bear you practice fight with is invincible, so you can just keep beating on it until you're a god.
Not to jump on a contrarian wagon here, but Skyrim's classless system was liberating. Even in Oblivion where you could make your own class, it felt like the game was holding my hand. That was the problem I had while playing other class-based RPGs. In KOTOR, you either ended the game as a Jedi who is great with the Force, but bad with lightsabers, a Jedi who was good with lightsabers, but bad with the Force, or a Jedi that sucks at both with a few skills on the side. You have to game the system (read: exploit) in order to create a Jedi who is good with both the Force and the Jedi's signature glowstick. At the very least they gave you party members to make up for that. In Mass Effect 1 and 2, in order to be able to use tech powers or biotic powers, you had to give up your right to use an assault rifle. In Skyrim, you can make any custom class you want by choosing a race and a guardian stone to go with it, and change on the fly. So no, I will say that Skyrim's classless system is a boon for RPGs, because in real life, you don't select classes, but accumulate skills. You could have someone who's an expert swordsman, martial artist, and gunman be good with computers and tech, not because he created a custom class for it, but because he trained with all those skills. Skyrim's classless system actually makes it easier to roleplay.
The features that were removed were taken out because they BROKE THE GAME. Spellcrafting? I created a 100% chameleon spell in Oblivion, which, when combined with the sneak attack perk I gained along with my level 100 blade, blunt, and strength stat, allowed me to BEAT ANYONE IN THE GAME WITHOUT TAKING ANY DAMAGE. Jyggalag? On the highest difficulty setting? Lemme put on chameleon first and equip Umbra. Now I'm shagging him without him even being able to strike back. The greatest of the Daedric princes, the one who was feared by the others, and he dies like a cornered rat without much of a fight. Same went for Umaril, which makes me wonder why someone from the Mages Guild hasn't killed him yet, especially when anyone from that organization can make custom spells. Mehrunes Dagon? In the Imperial City? Here, lemme whip out the Wabbajack and TURN HIM INTO MUSH. No need for Sean Bean to die, guys! Dagon is now a pile of mush on the ground. Granted, I'd have loved to bring features like that from Oblivion into Skyrim, but it's quite obvious they removed it for balancing reasons.
The amount of freedom and player choices has GONE UP. You're no longer restrained by things like fame and infamy, nor are you forced to level up your character by only leveling up your major skills. Now, upgrading ALL your skills helps level you up. And most of what was removed was either A) things that allowed the player to hilariously abuse the system and break the game or B) fluff that wasn't really contributing much aside from atmosphere. I mean, it was nice that I can ask 5 different mages about their opinions on the guild and arch-mage Traven, but they all said the same, word-for-word lines about how Traven's ban on necromancy has affected the guild.
Oblivion is a great game, for sure, but there's things that limited it from fulfilling its potential, and it's quite obvious that the stuff from Oblivion that they removed in Skyrim were things that practically broke the game and made it too easy. So instead of leveling up fairly, you had to deal with increasingly over-leveled foes, and the only way to get past them was to break the game and make them completely harmless. I can either fight armies of Daedra and get my ass handed to me, or use custom spells which makes them completely harmless even on the highest difficulty. I love Oblivion to death, but I'd be lying to myself if I said that Skyrim made no improvements to the formula.
"Skyrim's classless system was liberating"
False, classes were NEVER restricting in Elder Scrolls games. It's a perpetuating lie spread by ignorant fools. Classes were there to make your beginning easier so you don't start with shit skills everywhere (like in Skyrim on higher difficulties). They were also never a problem because you could train additional skills either via using them or paying money to trainers.
" In Skyrim, you can make any custom class you want by choosing a race and a guardian stone to go with it, and change on the fly."
Which kills replayability. Not that Skyrim ever had much of that. What is there to replay Skyrim for? Deep and engrossing questlines? Different playstyles with "balanced" bland homogenous spells and alchemy potions that you will never be able to modify? And they are not as diverse as before since Bethesda removed attributes from the game, so now you can't make spells or potions that damage or buff them, it also reduced the loot diversity in Skyrim. Oh, yes, I can modify spells with perks, how nice. Everything is about perks in Skyrim. Some skills suck even at 100, only perks investments make them good. What a fantastic system. Why even have skills then? Just have perks everywhere. Oh wait, we already have that in Fallout 4. It turned out great, didn't it?
"The features that were removed were taken out because they BROKE THE
GAME. Spellcrafting? I created a 100% chameleon spell in Oblivion,
which, when combined with the sneak attack perk I gained along with my
level 100 blade, blunt, and strength stat, allowed me to BEAT ANYONE IN
THE GAME WITHOUT TAKING ANY DAMAGE."
Yes, Chameleon could probably use some fine tuning but it was still a fun option and its removal shows what a joke modern game design is. What's this, we don't know what Mysticism is all about and here at Bethesda Softworks we lack the creativity to properly implement this magic school in the world- so let's just remove it ENTIRELY from the game. What's this, players complained about Mako segments in Mass Effect, so rather than improving Mako and planet exploration, let's remove the entire freaking thing in Mass Effect 2. What a great game design, it clearly shows how creative and principled we are as game developers.
"Mehrunes Dagon? In the Imperial City? Here, lemme whip out the Wabbajack and TURN HIM INTO MUSH."
That actually sounds really fun and hilarious. I'll make sure to try it next time I play Oblivion lol.
" I'd have loved to bring features like that from Oblivion into Skyrim,
but it's quite obvious they removed it for balancing reasons."
Well, then their "balancing" really sucked because you can still break Skyrim with Restoration glitches. Let's be honest, these features are part of the charm of these games. I mean you could do some REALLY crazy things in Morrowind and people as well as Bethesda were fine with it. When playing Skyrim I still hate that I cannot modify the movement speed of my character (no, Steed stone doesn't count - its speed boost is pathetic), that crappy sprint option doesn't help since the speed increase is small and you CANNOT jump while sprinting which I find very irritating to this day. I really miss Speed from Oblivion. Oblivion's autolevelling system can go die in a ditch though.
+TheOnlyTrueZak
"False, classes were NEVER restricting in Elder Scrolls games. It's a perpetuating lie spread by ignorant fools. Classes were there to make your beginning easier so you don't start with shit skills everywhere (like in Skyrim on higher difficulties). They were also never a problem because you could train additional skills either via using them or paying money to trainers."
Then don't play Skyrim on a higher difficulty unless you've leveled up the right skills. I'd say that goes the same for any Elder Scrolls game. Also, you can easily grab one of the Guardian Stones from the beginning and make either magic, warrior, or stealth skills easier to learn. Like say, I wanted to become a mage, so I would get the mage stone which would make it easier for me to learn mage skills.
"Which kills replayability. Not that Skyrim ever had much of that. What is there to replay Skyrim for? Deep and engrossing questlines? Different playstyles with "balanced" bland homogenous spells and alchemy potions that you will never be able to modify? And they are not as diverse as before since Bethesda removed attributes from the game, so now you can't make spells or potions that damage or buff them, it also reduced the loot diversity in Skyrim. Oh, yes, I can modify spells with perks, how nice. Everything is about perks in Skyrim. Some skills suck even at 100, only perks investments make them good. What a fantastic system. Why even have skills then? Just have perks everywhere. Oh wait, we already have that in Fallout 4. It turned out great, didn't it?"
Different characters and decisions. One playthrough, I annihilated the Dark Brotherhood and barely touched the Daedric quests. In another playthrough, I did every evil thing imaginable and took over the DB. And as I said, the magic system in previous games were broken. I even killed the strongest Daedric Prince in all of Elder Scrolls by casting chameleon, ducking, and punching the fucker until he fell. On the highest difficulty, no less.
"Yes, Chameleon could probably use some fine tuning but it was still a fun option and its removal shows what a joke modern game design is. What's this, we don't know what Mysticism is all about and here at Bethesda Softworks we lack the creativity to properly implement this magic school in the world- so let's just remove it ENTIRELY from the game. What's this, players complained about Mako segments in Mass Effect, so rather than improving Mako and planet exploration, let's remove the entire freaking thing in Mass Effect 2. What a great game design, it clearly shows how creative and principled we are as game developers."
You're not even getting into the bottom of why they removed it. The Mako didn't make the game easy to win in one shot. Chameleon allowed for the player to win any battle, on the highest difficulty, without even suffering a scratch. Same goes for lockpicking-I once even took Nocturnal's key for lockpicking, but then I turned around and made an open lock spell that made lockpicking obsolete. One spell made an entire skill tree useless. From the perspective of a player, that's fucking awesome, but from the POV of a game designer who wants people to struggle with opening locks to make it challenging and make them invest time and energy to level up lockpicking, that's a disaster. Now I don't even need Nocturnal's key anymore.
"That actually sounds really fun and hilarious. I'll make sure to try it next time I play Oblivion lol."
Mehrunes Dagon is nothing, lol. Try using Chameleon on Jyggalag and kill him with nothing but your fists.
"Well, then their "balancing" really sucked because you can still break Skyrim with Restoration glitches. Let's be honest, these features are part of the charm of these games. I mean you could do some REALLY crazy things in Morrowind and people as well as Bethesda were fine with it. When playing Skyrim I still hate that I cannot modify the movement speed of my character (no, Steed stone doesn't count - its speed boost is pathetic), that crappy sprint option doesn't help since the speed increase is small and you CANNOT jump while sprinting which I find very irritating to this day. I really miss Speed from Oblivion. Oblivion's autolevelling system can go die in a ditch though."
Which means that in the next game, they'll try to fix that. But no, any self-respecting game maker doesn't want the player to break the game. That kills like, 90% of the game time. Also, the movement in Skyrim is fine. Granted, I can't move like the Flash like I did in Oblivion, but that didn't affect my playthrough in the slightest since I just spammed the sprint shout and got from one end of the map to another despite being over-burdened.
Awesome! XD
My first was Morrowind,its the last true RPG in the series in my opinion because just like the previous games,it doesn't hold your hand and everything is based off of invisible dice the game rolls that affects what you do in combat,just like a true rpg should aka Dungeons and Dragons.
As someone for whom this was the first Elder Scrolls game that FINALLY sucked me in (I tried with Morrowind, but it was WAY too clunky to spend more than 10 hours on), and as much as I love the Skyim...
I agree with about 95% of your points. It's a shame I have to download a bunch of mods (and wait 1-2 years for patches) before the game became really really good.
The only thing I will 100% disagree with you on is the 3rd person slow-mo finishers. It's a welcome way to show off the character you spend 90% of the game playing as in first person. I really like my Character's badass face and stuff, and being able to see it once in a while doing something cool is a very welcome addition.
This one is a classic.
On 2:49 the source of the image is the manga "Homunculus".
Damn good manga that visualizes people's psyche by way of the main characters ability to see the true "faces" of people, which he uses to solve psychological problems as a sort of super-powered shrink.
Only pointing it out because i want to expose more people to it since it's one of my favorites. Be warned though it can be a little.. disturbing at times.
Forgive my ignorance, but what game is that at 6:31 - 6:37? It looks so familiar but I can't quite recognize it.
Daggerfall.
I don't know, I finished Skyrim two years ago, recently (since there hasn't been any interesting titles as of late) I started playing again. It did help that this time I knew how to get leveled-up faster so I'm enjoying it more, but yeah the plot-lines are running thin.
You know, the thing is every time I see a Skyrim review like this I get the feeling I'm being disdained because I didn't come into the series until Skyrim because it never tweaked my fancy. There is a really harsh mindset out there amongst older fans of the series that seem to put newcomers drawn in by Skyrim's different atmosphere into a box labelled "stupid people".
Is this my imagination? Beause stuff like this makes it seem like I should feel bad for loving Skyrim as much as I have. I've put in almost 1000 hours into it, and the background lore has me delving into online wikipedias to find out more about what happened in the older games.
I've been thinking of buying Oblivion off of Steam since it's cheap and I do hear how great it is, but I'm not sure I want to if it'll turn me into an asshole who hates a good game like Skyrim for bringing in more fans like me who would have never given the series a second look otherwise.
I don't know you're trying to equate the removal of features with reaching out for new players. Because that's just false. The point of this review is that Bethesda could have made boatloads of profit with this game while still keeping both simple and crucial features of the Elder scrolls games. Don't get so defensive.
YOURFACEOUCH
How can I not get defensive when the whole point is that he's saying "they dumbed-down the game", that implies that I'm stupid for liking Skyrim. Maybe people don't like being called stupid, did you ever think of that?
It's an elitist approach and it's insanely off-putting and only detracts from any message. Perhaps people like this guy should stop being over-acting fucktards.
"that implies that I'm stupid for liking Skyrim"
No It doesn't, in fact if anything it implies that Bethesda thinks you're stupid. Perhaps you should listen harder, because if you think that he's implying that you're stupid (which again, isn't point he's making), then you're proving him right by being an "over-acting fucktard"
Maddog3060 I don't see how claiming the game's been dumbed down equates to implying people are unintelligent. The game has actually been dumbed down, despite people claiming it's just "streamlining". Just compare Skyrim to literally any previous game in the series, and you'll see that the game mechanics have been vastly downgraded and plenty of good features removed. It's practically the Fallout 4 of the series.
And I say this despite Skyrim being the first Elder Scrolls I played.
Do yourself a favor and go back and play the older games, they're amazing, and then you'll get an appreciation for where the older fans are coming from.
My wife says you have beautiful eyes and that you shouldn't cover them with sunglasses.
That's like telling Mr. T he shouldn't wear jewelry. Or telling Angry Joe he should lose a couple pounds.
Okay I have to ask. Who is the anime lady at 7:17 dual wielding the triple set Gatling Guns. she looks familiar but I can't place a name.
skyrim is my favorite game of all time honestly. I didn't grow up playing other elder scrolls games so I take it for what it is. An excellent game.
I feel it is going to be even worse than that as the way things are going I honestly feel that in about a years time Bethesda is going to finally be bought out by Microsoft, as they have been sucking them off now for quite awhile. The next game is going to be even more streamlined and I feel sad, cause Like you, I am an elder scrolls fan, and I have to admit that your prediction is likely coming true, as it has so much evidence to support it's inevitable realization.
Bearing in mind what happened with Elder Scrolls Online? You fuckin' CALLED it at the end there.
Well I guess that answers my question that I posted earlier today XD
Also, the video seems to be, uh, zoomed in a bit too much.
Ok im just gonna admit it I enjoyed Skyrim far more than Oblivion and 1000x more than that random dice roll to hit nonsense that was Morrowind. That being said yes I agree Bethesda needs to stop stripping out features...there is very big line between streamlining (just allowing the person to pick their playstyle rather than a class) and outright taking shit away (reducing all weapon skills to 3 catergories, and what ever the fuck that magic system is)
Skyrim is babies first "rpg" thats why its so well loved, truly mediocre though...decent action adventure, terrible rpg
The action is not stellar either to be honest.