Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

[Akonyl]

Ginrei - I guess the question is, did you like Oblivion?  If you weren't too big on it, then you probably wouldn't like Skyrim a whole lot.  I mean, the games are essentially the same - nothing big has really changed except for some minor tweaks like sprinting, prettier graphics, etc.

Also possible to hate Oblivion and love Skyrim, it's the case with me. I liked Morrowind, though.

Never played Oblivion.

Anyway, just finished that cave with the Dragon Stone and then fought my first dragon.  That was... horribly anti-climatic.  It landed and breathed on me, and I took like... 5% damage?  What kind of weak ass dragon is that?  I'm just frying everything with double lightning.

What race are you? Because when I fought the first dragon I actually took hella damage from it, but if you're a dark elf with 50% fire resist that would help explain things.

[ranger]

Also, it helps in having like a billion guards who used to be adventurers but took an arrow in the knee helping you, along with a butch dark elf guard.  Dragons get tougher when its just you and maybe a companion fighting it.  Also, difficulty level matters as well.

And yeah, I should of asked, "have you liked any previous elder scroll games?" And really? You didn't like Oblivion? But you like Skyrim? NANNIII

[Akonyl]

Morrowind setting = awesome
Skyrim setting = awesome
Oblivion setting = yawn

[ranger]

Okay...Actually, It's not Okay!

I liked Oblivion's setting!  Cyrodiil is an awesome place, whats there not to like?

[Akonyl]

seemed very generic-fantasy-setting-esque to me.

[kkslider5552000]

Akonyl described my favorite JRPG this gen. :p

As I've said many times before though, Oblivion is an example to me (although Breath of Fire 2 and certain other older JRPGs are good examples too) of games that SUCK, flat out SUCK half the time and yet despite that, Oblivion is an amazing game.

I played Breath of Fire 2. 1/3 or even 1/2 of the game is generic random battling. Seriously, the only real notable thing is that it has Capcom SNES music like Megaman 7 or something. I still think it's a great game. How?

Oblivion is a game with great sidequests, but a weak main quest (not horrible though), the worst leveling up system, a ton of glitches and later on having to save after defeating every other enemy and even after tons of healing between battles, I still died a lot. How is that a great game?

I can't answer those questions.

That being said, I should point out that when there is a story in Breath of Fire 2 it's somehow more interesting than any SNES JRPG story that isn't Chrono Trigger or mindscrew parts of Earthbound. At least the main story..which shows up a few times in the entire game.

[ranger]

I have an answer to those questions: It's because of Oblivion's massive world and how immersed you can get into it.  For its time, the open-worldness of the game was mind blowing - there was nothing in the history of games that could match the scale and detail of Oblivion's world.  So yes, even though there were terrible bugs/glitches, annoying-ass NPCs who were very ugly and only had like four voice actors, a rather bland main storyline, the game still delivered.  You know something is massive when a sidequest is just as long as the main story.

Okay, so I have an awesome story about my Skyrim ventures.  I'll try and be as vague as possible so I don't spoil any quests.

If you haven't done a whole lot of sidequests yet, this might spoil some information for you.

Spoiler:

I was just about to go talk to the Graybeards, and stopped by the local town right beneath the steps.  A guy challenged me to a drinking contest, I accepted.  However, after taking my last drink I blacked out and ended up a city I have never even explored yet.  As I leave to go find out WTH happened, I witness a murder right in the middle of town, which of courses launches a huge chain of events of conspiracy.  Because of this, I end up in jail, where I pickup some prison skillz, smuggling in drugs, daggers, etc.  I end up befriending a political prisoner and with his help the prisoners escape from jail, and launch an attack on the city.

After a lot of dead guards, I decide its time to bounce and find out how the hell I ended up here.  As I follow the trails, I find someone that saw me during my drunk adventure, and as I'm talking to this NPC, a fracking Ice Dragon pops up mid-dialogue, terrorizing this poor farm village.  I own the crapola out of it, absorb my soul, and continue on my way.  My next lead is at Whiterun, I find out what I need to know, and realized I had a crap-load of dough and I decide to buy a house and store my housecarl and loot there.  Next stop, Windhelm.  Right as I arrive, I witness a crime scene going on, the latest victim of a rampant murderer.  I play the role of detective, and after much sleuthing I apprehend the killer.  

Finally, I make my way to the final hint of how this adventure even started, only to find the place covered with rogue mages.  After killing them all, I end up in some alternate dimension.  To avoid spoilers, after the encounter with certain people in this dimension, I wake up to find myself back at the village underneath the 7000 steps, like nothing happened.

Epic.

[GinRei]

What race are you? Because when I fought the first dragon I actually took hella damage from it, but if you're a dark elf with 50% fire resist that would help explain things.

Yeah, I'm a Dark Elf.  But still, that means it would've only done 10% damage, which is still absurdly weak.

[Akonyl]

Akonyl described my favorite JRPG this gen. :p

JRPGs can get by with it because they are less about the setting and more about the plot that happens in that setting. Games like The Elder Scrolls which are based on exploration of that setting... not so much.

I have an answer to those questions: It's because of Oblivion's massive world and how immersed you can get into it.  For its time, the open-worldness of the game was mind blowing - there was nothing in the history of games that could match the scale and detail of Oblivion's world.  So yes, even though there were terrible bugs/glitches, annoying-ass NPCs who were very ugly and only had like four voice actors, a rather bland main storyline, the game still delivered.  You know something is massive when a sidequest is just as long as the main story.

"bland main story" -> "you know it's immense when a sidequest is as long as the main story"

doesn't make a whole lot of sense, considering how short the ES main quests tend to be

as for an "unmatched open worldness ever before", which did you play first, Morrowind or Oblivion?

What race are you? Because when I fought the first dragon I actually took hella damage from it, but if you're a dark elf with 50% fire resist that would help explain things.

Yeah, I'm a Dark Elf.  But still, that means it would've only done 10% damage, which is still absurdly weak.

true, but even as a Nord with my 50% frost resist, ice dragons seem to hit me for much less than half of what fire dragons hit me for though I couldn't say why. Also keep in mind that if a dragon breathed on you once and took away half your health, it would make them basically impossible for melee characters to fight. Not to say that dragons are the hardest things in the game, as especially after I have a 50+% fire resist set, they're pretty much of no consequence (as long as they decide to actually land so I can slash em up).


edit: And I just had to fight the most annoying boss ever, he used the force shout on me like 5 times and each time triggered a 10 second long animation of me flying against the wall ragdoll-style until I got back up. Not to mention that he divided and you had to hit the "right one" before he went and split again and he spawned on those stupid platforms and argh.

[ranger]

The main story for the game isn't thaaat short, it still takes a while to complete.  If I recall, Oblivion's was rather long, and currently Skyrim is taking me quite a while.

I played Morrowind first, and I know they are both really big open-ended worlds, but Morrowind was far too rough or underdeveloped compared to Oblivion.  Call me a noob or whatever, but I was pretty young when Morrowind came out, and I didn't exactly like how the game would never hold your hand.  Morrowind was my first elder scrolls game, and there was no quest compass, no level scaling, no means of faster or instant forms of transportation..

I mean I enjoy a tough game and being immersed in the environment, like no fast travelling, but, for an open world game there needs limitations.  I could of killed the main quest NPC the moment I saw him and that would be the end of the main story-line.

I'd like to say Morrowind introduced the archetypical open world Elder Scrolls genre, but Oblivion refined and mastered it.

[Akonyl]

you can't really use the "kill main quest npc" part to fault it though, considering if you did that you got a nice popup that told you you'd ruined everything and should restart your game

And yeah, I'll admit the compass is a good addition to the series, but I'm not sure I'd say the same for level scaling. It sorta makes things bland when pretty much every dungeon you go into is the same difficulty regardless of where it is (though I'm enjoyin the game immensely nonetheless).

[kkslider5552000]

you can't really use the "kill main quest npc" part to fault it though, considering if you did that you got a nice popup that told you you'd ruined everything and should restart your game

that's stupid

like old PC adventure games stupid

[Akonyl]

you can't really use the "kill main quest npc" part to fault it though, considering if you did that you got a nice popup that told you you'd ruined everything and should restart your game

that's stupid

like old PC adventure games stupid

how is it stupid? I'd much rather be able to axe anyone in the face and ruin things for myself than have them just be lolinvincible.

edit: And technically, you could still beat the game after killing quest NPCs because there was a "back path" that you could use for the main quest that wasn't as interesting, but even without it I'd say the same thing.

[GinRei]

Rerolled as a Redguard, and I'm having a little more fun.  Going with an Emiya route, using Archery, Dual Wielding, and Conjuring.  So far I got the conjure sword spell, just need a conjure bow spell!

[kkslider5552000]

So does the game have more than 20 songs throughout the entire thing? Because that annoyed me in Oblivion that I had to hear the same songs 28940404054 times.