The guilds (with the exception of the Dark Brotherhood of course) were rather disappointing. They were all so short, previous games at least had some meat to them, padding mostly but you at least felt like you were rising through the ranks. In Skyrim you just waltz into the companions headquarters, do a fetch quest and then immediately learn their deep dark hidden secret. None of the guilds lasted me more than a few hours or so.
I was also disappointed by the general lack of side quests. Aside from the Daedric quests there were only a few side quests. It’s the same issue I had with Fallout 3, high quality side quests but very few in number compared to previous Elder Scrolls games.
I think the lack of mounted combat is disappointing. I thought for sure they would have improved upon Oblivion’s broken horse system by the time Skyrim was launched.
The bugs. I tried to play the “join the imperials” quest line, but it got stuck when I needed to talk to the general with Colonel Tigh’s voice, but no speech option let me move on.
I started a new game, and was able to finish the quest line with no problem. No idea what was different.
There were like three quests stuck like that on my first playthrough.
While the best solution may be “Don’t try to have a maze dungeon (or one named that way)”, I think that the auto-mapping feature would defeat the purpose anyway.
Really? This is the only one posted so far that I can’t wrap my head around. You weren’t satisfied with guild quests that last several hours? How long do you believe they should have been? There are many games that only last a few hours in their entirety.
And you don’t think there were enough side quests? Are we playing the same game here?
Lighting - I hate these Nordic ruins with brightly lit brazers blazing away letting me spot the Draugr at the end of the hall. It should be pitch black forcing me to use torches (and so show up earlier), night vision magic or a light spell (again warning adversaries).
If you’re on PC, I believe there’s a dark dungeons mod. It might still be in production though (the toolset was only released a little over a week ago).
I think I’m going back tonight for another romp since I’ve installed a few mods through the Steam Workshop… and I can’t find anyone to play the ME3 demo multi with me.
Probably because they think they’ll end up spending their time reviving me which is not TRUE! It is NOT …entirely true!
On top of the usual stuff that’s already been mentioned (useless cooking, retarded menu & interface, lack of magic maker) a really little stuff that broke my immersion hardcore: when you reach the edge of the map you run into an invisible wall. No explanation, no popup message, just you stuck running in place when the snowy plain extends to the horizon.
I don’t know why it’s bothering me that much, but it does. It just feels so… lazy. They could have put mountains all around, or border guards telling me to turn back because the Empire has locked the province for the duration of the civil war or whatever. Invisible walls are way too 1980.
There are invisible walls in Oblivion and Fallout 3, too. That’s not to excuse them; I hate them too and think they’re just lazy. But I expect them from Bethesda.
Yeah, that one I don’t get either. My main is around 59th level, and she’s consistently had twenty plus active quests in her journal since she got to the double digits. And currently, at least half of them are clearly mid-chain quests. And there are still a couple of cities I haven’t fully explored yet, so I’m pretty sure there’s more quests there. And I’ve decided to deliberately pass up the Mage Guild and Dark Brotherhood quest chains with this character, because they don’t fit her build.
There’s a “realistic lighting” mod, but like many mods it’s (IMO) too much of an overcorrection. Yes, nights and dungeons should be darker, but the mod makes everything unplayably-pitch-black. You can tweak it, but right now that’s just editing a text file, and seems like way too much work to get something decent. Sometimes I think it improves the aesthetics, but other times it makes things look worse (though admittedly more realistic).
Since the patch that fixed the weapon racks bug, the only thing that bothers me is the lack of impact from finishing the Dark Brotherhood quests. I mean, you
assassinated the Emperor
about nobody mentions it? I still get comments about much more mundane things in the far past.
I just have to +1 the stupid Follower AI. Really, if I tell you to stay put while I kite an enemy, DO NOT RUN PAST ME!
You are NOT in the Sercret Service Lydia, no need to step in front of an arrow for me, especially when it was MY FREAKING ARROW!
I just wish I could get Mjoll sooner since I can’t accidently kill her in a fight, I just wish she would stop talking for a while.
Number of Companions quests:8
Number of Fighters Guild quests in Oblivion:19
The companions and the college can both be completed in under 3 hours each. It’s been a while but I remember the Oblivion guilds being longer than that. My main complaint is not that they’re short, its that they feel rushed. Essentially you do a couple of short quests and then everyone decides you’re just too awesome and make you the leader. There is no feeling of actually rising through the ranks unlike previous games. This goes for both the Companions and the College, the Brotherhood and the Thieves guild are much better about it though.
This is another of my big complaints, why can’t we get dungeons that are big and rewarding to explore and map out like in Arena?
Likewise, I hate the fact that my path is so easily blocked by rocks that, realistically, would be trivial to climb over. I’m not talking sheer cliff faces but jumbles of boulders arranged so you slide off them if you try to jump. Because obviously my character doesn’t have hands.
That’s sort of a universal complaint of mine (barriers that should be easily defeated) but more so in Skyrim with its “Oh, you can go anywhere!” open world mentality.
This is an example of different people developing different expectations over life I guess. Even your explanation makes it sound like there are a ton of developed quest lines in this game. IMHO you’re expecting way too much content per $1 you paid for the game. If you want the quests to be even more realistic try doing them all without fast-travelling. That will extend them for you and maybe the development won’t seem so rushed.
I’ll meet you a little over halfway. I think the Companions quest line works as a storyline, because as Kodlak details in his journal you really are probably the best qualified to take over:
He has seen you in his prophetic visions. Skjor is dead. Aela is solitary and wild. Vilkas is a hot-head. Farkas is too “good-hearted” ( i.e. stupid ). And let’s face it - you’re a badass. ALL player characters are relative badasses.
I will grant I would have probably have required another couple of Radiant quests a la the Thieves Guild to solidify your bonafides to enter the Circle. Lord knows there are enough bandit lairs to choose from. But all in all I thought that one works well thematically ( as does the Thieves Guild line as you say, I still haven’t messed with the DB ).
But I will agree with you a bit more when it comes to the College of Winterhold. As a Companion I can well buy your character as an uber-badass early, but mages fare less well in that department. I have a harder time picturing the PC as Archmage material early in the game - it just breaks immersion for me a bit more. I think some other conclusion to that plot-line, with an option to pursue that title once you had leveled up to a certain height would be more satisfying.
But overall I agree with Miller and Cubsfan that Skyrim is really not lacking in the side-quest department. The amount of material in this game is immense compared to most comparable games.
I actually feel the opposite way. Despite the reveal towards the end of the quest chain, I felt you rose way too fast in the ranks during the Companion story, considering the place of honor the Companions have in Nord culture. The Mage Guild made more sense to me: mages are disliked in Skyrim generally, and despised in Winterhold itself. It made sense to me that a moderately skilled outsider would easily find an important position in the guild, considering that there’s likely a dearth of applicants generally, and probably not a whole lot of general interest in being the public face of a hated institution.
But I agree that both chains could have been fleshed out more. What I was mostly surprised at was the idea that there aren’t enough side quests in general in the game. I must have close to a hundred quests on my main at this point, counting both active and completed, and I still find new ones fairly regularly.
). And let’s face it - you’re a badass. ALL player characters are relative badasses.