# Got Skyrim and I'm very disappointed **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 28, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349 "2012-12-28T04:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/81 "2013-01-02T03:25:21Z")
Well, beyond realism, weight/space restrictions are typically there to force the player to make choices - you can’t carry your _entire_ axe collection with you (including the +3 brown tundra bear slayer (bonus only applies from 9 to 5 during mating season)), and it’s up to you to decide, from the humongous list of shit you’ve pilfered, hornswoggled, right-of-conquered, “found”, swindled or otherwise acquired, what to bring on your Hero’s Journey. Take it far enough and you end with something like JESawyer’s _New Vegas_ mod (as well as the umpteen “survivalist edition” mods out there) where every pound carried had better be useful, because that’s so many medkits, bullets, food, water and radiation meds you’re not bringing along. In the context of the TES system more specifically, I’d wager it’s also there so that your character can’t compulsively pick up every. single. item, from tin cutlery to mid-sized beds ; which would likely eventually crash the game just keeping track of where all that shit is and keeping it in memory at all times. But I’d say the most important role It (and the gold limits on merchants) serves is delaying the point where money just stops mattering. It’s not that money doesn’t help or doesn’t have any uses at all - it’s just that soon enough you have enough money that you could straight up fricking \*buy \*Skyrim from the Thalmor. That’s true in every RPG - money is always just an early-mid game concern, while late game it’s the sheer scarcity of upgrades that bottlenecks the player. Now, if you can’t carry every last item you find, and you can’t sell each item for a bazillion gold, you stay poor longer. Which means you can’t buy all the grand filled soulstones, all the crafting materials, all the homes, all the rare alchemy ingredients etc… straight out of prison. End result is a delay of that I-could-just-buy-Skyrim phase, and more “choice” (in that you get to ponder what’s the best buying order for all that shit you know you’ll eventually own come endgame). ETA: it also forces you to keep your priorities straight: yes, you could take three hours making trips back and forth from that draugr pit to sell every last rotted linen in there, milk every last gold coin out of your conquest. Or you could go and conquer somewhere else instead. Your choice. Compare to, say, _Daggerfall_, where not only did merchants have unlimited gold, they would also dutifully buy in the morning the very items you’d stolen from them during the night - by just _staying inside past closing time_. Although of course, there was an even easier get-rich-quick scheme: travel to some dinky out of the way nowhere province, stroll into the bank, take out a loan of eleventy billion gold, skip town and never come back. Presto, zillionaire right out of the starter dungeon. Talk about easy money… ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/82 "2013-01-02T03:45:47Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Main plot of the game, that. Ok, I think maybe I misunderstood something. I guess I’ll spoiler box it just in case. I thought that the reason the dragons were able to be reborn was because their souls were intact. And that whenever you absorb a dragon soul that dragon couldn’t be resurrected again. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/83 "2013-01-02T04:25:21Z")
> [@AngelSoft](#): > > Ok, I think maybe I misunderstood something. I guess I’ll spoiler box it just in case. > > I thought that the reason the dragons were able to be reborn was because their souls were intact. And that whenever you absorb a dragon soul that dragon couldn’t be resurrected again. Yes, but The Blades traveled the length and breadth of the land for centuries, killing dragons wherever they found them. There’s plenty o’ dead dragons out there. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/84 "2013-01-02T04:53:53Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Well, beyond realism, weight/space restrictions are typically there to force the player to make choices - you can’t carry your _entire_ axe collection with you (including the +3 brown tundra bear slayer (bonus only applies from 9 to 5 during mating season)), and it’s up to you to decide, from the humongous list of shit you’ve pilfered, hornswoggled, right-of-conquered, “found”, swindled or otherwise acquired, what to bring on your Hero’s Journey. Take it far enough and you end with something like JESawyer’s _New Vegas_ mod (as well as the umpteen “survivalist edition” mods out there) where every pound carried had better be useful, because that’s so many medkits, bullets, food, water and radiation meds you’re not bringing along. > > In the context of the TES system more specifically, I’d wager it’s also there so that your character can’t compulsively pick up every. single. item, from tin cutlery to mid-sized beds ; which would likely eventually crash the game just keeping track of where all that shit is and keeping it in memory at all times. > > But I’d say the most important role It (and the gold limits on merchants) serves is delaying the point where money just stops mattering. It’s not that money doesn’t help or doesn’t have any uses at all - it’s just that soon enough you have enough money that you could straight up fricking \*buy \*Skyrim from the Thalmor. That’s true in every RPG - money is always just an early-mid game concern, while late game it’s the sheer scarcity of upgrades that bottlenecks the player. > Now, if you can’t carry every last item you find, and you can’t sell each item for a bazillion gold, you stay poor longer. Which means you can’t buy all the grand filled soulstones, all the crafting materials, all the homes, all the rare alchemy ingredients etc… straight out of prison. End result is a delay of that I-could-just-buy-Skyrim phase, and more “choice” (in that you get to ponder what’s the best buying order for all that shit you know you’ll eventually own come endgame). > ETA: it also forces you to keep your priorities straight: yes, you could take three hours making trips back and forth from that draugr pit to sell every last rotted linen in there, milk every last gold coin out of your conquest. Or you could go and conquer somewhere else instead. Your choice. > > Compare to, say, _Daggerfall_, where not only did merchants have unlimited gold, they would also dutifully buy in the morning the very items you’d stolen from them during the night - by just _staying inside past closing time_. Although of course, there was an even easier get-rich-quick scheme: travel to some dinky out of the way nowhere province, stroll into the bank, take out a loan of eleventy billion gold, skip town and never come back. Presto, zillionaire right out of the starter dungeon. Talk about easy money… Good explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/85 "2013-01-02T05:04:35Z")
And, for those who have only played Skyrim, in Morrowind and Oblivion you actually COULD pick up every single item you see, unless it was a container like a barrel or crate. And, every single barrel or crate could be clicked on to see if it had anything in it, and you couldn’t tell without clicking on them. Boy, that was fun. Too bad they got rid of that in Skyrim. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/86 "2013-01-02T05:20:43Z")
> [@AngelSoft](#): > > Ok, I think maybe I misunderstood something. I guess I’ll spoiler box it just in case. > > I thought that the reason the dragons were able to be reborn was because their souls were intact. And that whenever you absorb a dragon soul that dragon couldn’t be resurrected again. Well, yes, but who’s to say that the dragon that respawned is the exact one you’d killed the first time you were there ? Alduin’s not exactly running out of old bones to rez, and the lairs all double up as dragon graveyards. The dragon lairs are also important dragon-y places, possibly even holy or religious in significance to them. They all feature Dragon Walls, too. It’s likely freshly awakened dragons might stop by to do some light reading, honour their fallen, have a nap, masturbate like a motherfuck, whatever it is the first one you killed up there was doing when you weren’t around. Beyond that, I’m actually not 100% sure about your theory [spoiler]Since dragons are immortal (at least, Parthunaax makes a point of calling you “mortal”. And of course \*he \*hasn’t been dead :)), the dragons that get resurrected had all been killed during the Dragon Wars, either by other dragons or by dragonborns, right ? I assume they got the soul-suckin’ treatment back then too. Presumably Alduin just shouts a new soul back into them or something like that ? Note that the bone dragon in Labyrinthian, who hasn’t been raised by Alduin AFAIK, doesn’t have a soul to take.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/87 "2013-01-02T08:28:42Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > That’s OK, but I really wish they’d just get rid of merchants buying loot in RPGs. It’s tedious, even in Torchlight. I guess people like pawn shop simulations. It would be nice to have an option when you just got gold as loot. Or maybe I should just start using money cheats. I never played it, but I think it was the new _Bard’s Tale_: they seriously break the 4th wall to explain why an Enraged Mountain Goat would be carrying gold coins on it even though it doesn’t have sapience… or pockets. Like you convert them offscreen? > [@dzeiger](#): > > Despite **thelurkinghorror’s** claims, the majority of RPGs I’ve played in the past 30 years or so do not have weight limitations, and I think the main reason for it is that it doesn’t really add realism unless you go all out with it, and if you don’t go all out it just adds drudery with no palpable gameplay benefit. Rephrase: common in NON-JRPGs. Other systems are: carry a limited number of items, or slight alteration: limited inventory space, and bigger items take up more space (Deus Ex). It’s mainly the Final Fantasies et al. that have unlimited or 99 max items. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/88 "2013-01-02T13:40:53Z")
Dark Souls might be more to the OP’s liking - a lot more action, much more challenging (sometimes frustratingly so) and a really deep combat system. I think every fantasy RPG should examine the combat in Dark Souls closely as they create their own from now on; I’m loving it. Skyrim is not so much about the combat as it is the exploration, and the ability to just exist in a cool well-realized world. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/89 "2013-01-02T19:41:10Z")
> [@Stormcrow](#): > > Dark Souls might be more to the OP’s liking - a lot more action, much more challenging (sometimes frustratingly so) Sometimes ? The game is called Dark Souls because it tramples yours into the dirt, again and again, laughing all the way. And it makes you _love it_. It’s not a game, it’s a Stockholm syndrome emulator :). All jokes aside though, it’s really not the same kind of game as Skyrim - there’s little to no player agency and the game is very linear (even though you can sequence break it pretty hard if you know what you’re doing). I wouldn’t call it an RPG really, it’s more of a fantasy action game with an XP system tacked to it, much like the unsung \*Severance:Blade of Darkness \*- man, that game was seven shades of awesome. Any game that lets me beat up an orc with its own severed leg is aces in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/90 "2013-01-03T19:37:55Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > … geeky fanwankery … > > Beyond that, I’m actually not 100% sure about your theory > > [spoiler]Since dragons are immortal (at least, Parthunaax makes a point of calling you “mortal”. And of course \*he \*hasn’t been dead :)), the dragons that get resurrected had all been killed during the Dragon Wars, either by other dragons or by dragonborns, right ? I assume they got the soul-suckin’ treatment back then too. Presumably Alduin just shouts a new soul back into them or something like that ? > > Note that the bone dragon in Labyrinthian, who hasn’t been raised by Alduin AFAIK, doesn’t have a soul to take.[/spoiler] sort of… Dragons, dragonborn, or Blades, only one of which eat the dragon’s soul when it dies. All other dragons that have died, since the beginning of time, are subject to resurrection by Al. Assuming he can figure out their name, since I’m assuming that’s part of the ritual (he yells out Saloknir’s name when he gets resurrected). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/91 "2013-01-14T18:39:04Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > Really, speaking of disappointing, you’re bringing up shouts and souls? I mean, in my experience so far, and the two 70+ episode Let’s Plays I’ve watched, other than a couple ridiculously specific cases, there’s pretty much no reason not to just leave the hotkey on Unrelenting Force. I’ve played up to level ~45 so far, and I think I’ve (intentionally) used shouting a grand total of 1 time so far! (I tried using the freezing shout on a snow bear and it didn’t work.) I’m sure some of them are pretty cool, but I’m playing with a khajiit and I’m constantly wanting to turn Night Eye on and off. A few times I tried putting the hotkey on Unrelenting Force instead and I ended up accidentally blasting some innocent townsfolk just because I wanted to see in the dark. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/92 "2013-01-14T19:36:15Z")
Anyone know whan Dragonborn is coming to PC and whether you will be able to spellcast from horseback? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/93 "2013-01-14T20:01:37Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Anyone know whan Dragonborn is coming to PC and whether you will be able to spellcast from horseback? Bethesda says “early 2013”; outside of that not much but speculation. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/94 "2013-01-14T21:06:32Z")
I just want to get back to that Morrowind feel to the game and Dragonborn sounds like a nod in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/95 "2013-01-18T17:51:31Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Anyone know whan Dragonborn is coming to PC and whether you will be able to spellcast from horseback? Update on this; it’s coming [February 5th](http://www.bethblog.com/2013/01/18/the-dragonborn-comes-in-february-and-hearthfire-dawnguard-too/). > [@](#): > > **PC:** On Tuesday, February 5th, Dragonborn will be available on Steam, including the English, French, Italian, Spanish and German versions of the content. I hate this stupid XBox exclusivity deal, especially since it originally was supposed to only be for the first 2 DLCs. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/96 "2013-01-18T20:24:23Z")
Did they say how many they would make (as many as is worth it I guess)? Hearthfire is likely not considered a DLC then, due to it’s non-plot driven nature and lower price point. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/97 "2013-01-18T22:05:54Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Did they say how many they would make (as many as is worth it I guess)? No. There’s [rumors/indications](http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/07/next-skyrim-dlc-could-be-called-redguard) of another named Redguard however. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349/98 "2013-01-24T01:34:05Z")
Since this is the most recently active Skyrim thread, I’ll leave this here: [Sign-ups for Elder Scrolls MMORPG closed beta are live.](http://signup.elderscrollsonline.com/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-skyrim-and-im-very-disappointed/645349.md?page=4)