Skyrim announced: Who's actually finished an Elder Scrolls game?

[Ayrahvon]

I've only played Morrowind and Oblivion. Didn't finish Morrowind, but really enjoyed what I did play of it. Oblivion was amazingly short in terms of the main plotline, but as always the side quests make the game. The Dark Brotherhood quest line is one of my favorites of any game.

Hope whatever engine Bethseda use for the new one is better than what they've been using for Oblivion and Fallout. As a whole I was pretty disappointed with Fallout 3. Love the Fallout universe, hated the game engine and the fact that Bethseda pay tons of money to one voice actor for a small part rather than get tons of decent ones and have some variety.

 

[waffleironhead]

I dont remember finishing morrowind, but i definitely never finished oblivion. The end with all of the oblivion gates just turned me off.

 

[jonks]

Spent about 150 hrs on oblivion incl all DLC and finished main quest and most but not all sidequests, but didn't get that expansion pack as I had had enough of the game by the time that came out. Kinda like Borderlands, I'm just not interested in playing any more just b/c they upped the level cap another 10 or added a few new guns. I'll jump back in when Bordlands 2 comes out.

Super psyched for Skyrim, but probably more psyched for Mass Effect 3 which drops around the same time. Completely different RPG experience of course, and any ME game can be beaten about 6-7 times over with everything completed in the amount of time it would take to do the same in ES.

 

[Sureshot324]

This time around I hope they'll do more to make it more of a dynamic world. They've done a bit of this with NPCs having daily cycles (sleep, go to work, etc) and having caravan's move from town to town, but it would be cool to see factions going to war with each other and dynamically creating quests for you that will actually help them win the war.

 

[shortylickens]

This time around I hope they'll do more to make it more of a dynamic world. They've done a bit of this with NPCs having daily cycles (sleep, go to work, etc) and having caravan's move from town to town, but it would be cool to see factions going to war with each other and dynamically creating quests for you that will actually help them win the war.

VERY unlikely. These days there is almost no incentive to make a good AI or any kind of programming that actually brings gameplay to a new level. Graphics sell, scripts do not.

 

[Sureshot324]

VERY unlikely. These days there is almost no incentive to make a good AI or any kind of programming that actually brings gameplay to a new level. Graphics sell, scripts do not.

Sadly you're probably right. It's also a fairly big risk, whereas if they just keep making games like they've been making them with a shiny new world to explore it's pretty much a guaranteed success.

 

[smackababy]

Sadly you're probably right. It's also a fairly big risk, whereas if they just keep making games like they've been making them with a shiny new world to explore it's pretty much a guaranteed success.

I don't think it would be completely outside the realm of possibility. A lot of the RPGs have been going with the "make choices" motif. Having them directly impacting you as you play would be pretty inventive. Sadly, I think development cost of 4 or 5 versions of the same game would be prohibitively high for most companies looking at only bottom line sales.


Maybe some indy company will come along and wow us out of nowhere.

 

[IcePickFreak]

I picked up on the series when Daggerfall came out and finished that and Morrowind several times.

Oblivion on the other hand I have yet to finish. I've tried several times, but it usually quickly turns into finding mods to fix the dumb leveling system etc. Then, if I didn't have any problems with mod combinations, I'd get bored with it after the two or three oblivion portals and shelf it.

I've been getting the itch to give it another go but just looking at mods to get it to play somewhat decently is turning me off to it again.

 

[waggy]

finished marrowind and oblivion (plus expansions) played daggerfall for years but never finished the main quest.

 

[snewdle]

Never have and probably never will. While they certainly are/were beautiful games, they just felt empty, like a single player MMORPG. I'll most likely try Skyrim when it comes out, but have never been able to get into TES series predominately for that reason.

 

[Mem]

finished marrowind and oblivion (plus expansions) played daggerfall for years but never finished the main quest.

I played Daggerfall and never finished it,the game area was huge.
I wonder if anybody actually finished Daggerfall ?

 

[shortylickens]

I played Daggerfall and never finished it,the game area was huge.
I wonder if anybody actually finished Daggerfall ?

 

[pmv]

VERY unlikely. These days there is almost no incentive to make a good AI or any kind of programming that actually brings gameplay to a new level. Graphics sell, scripts do not.

I think its not only that graphic sell and AI doesn't, its that improvements in graphics build incrementally, and across many different types of game. A new technique or new hardware allows newer games off all kinds to do things better, including with off-the-shelf code. Physics has its own engines also now.

But AI never makes any progress because every new product has to reinvent the wheel (with maybe the possible exception of FPS's, where the kind of AI needed is probably similar enough that real incremental progress might actually be possible over time - quake-style dumbass baddies do seem to have given way to smarter enemies since Half Life).

Maybe one day things will reach a point where some sort of generic 'strategy game' or 'RPG' AI becomes possible, allowing different games to actually build on what went before? Probably take a very long time.

 

[zebano]

VERY unlikely. These days there is almost no incentive to make a good AI or any kind of programming that actually brings gameplay to a new level. Graphics sell, scripts do not.

Then again, I believe NWN1 was successful specifically because of the scripting available in game and what it allowed mod-creators to do.

 

[crownjules]

Bought Morrowind during a Steam sale. Maybe played it for half an hour.

Bought Oblivion when it was first released. Oogled at the eye candy for a couple hours, then lost interest. Ended up selling it to a friend shortly after.

So no, never finished one.

 

[coldmeat]

snip

The scale on that picture is wrong.

for example:

 

[shortylickens]

I think its not only that graphic sell and AI doesn't, its that improvements in graphics build incrementally, and across many different types of game. A new technique or new hardware allows newer games off all kinds to do things better, including with off-the-shelf code. Physics has its own engines also now.

But AI never makes any progress because every new product has to reinvent the wheel (with maybe the possible exception of FPS's, where the kind of AI needed is probably similar enough that real incremental progress might actually be possible over time - quake-style dumbass baddies do seem to have given way to smarter enemies since Half Life).

Maybe one day things will reach a point where some sort of generic 'strategy game' or 'RPG' AI becomes possible, allowing different games to actually build on what went before? Probably take a very long time.

I'm not saying its impossible. I'm saying these days people are so dumb and used to not having to work at anything that AI and gameplay improvements have become so much less valuable to a video games success that developers dont even try hard anymore. I'm sure if they put small fraction of the effort into AI they put into visuals we'd all have HAL 9000's in our cell phones by now.

But thats not what the consumer wants right now. Just read this forum as an example. Count up how many guys say that a game which doesnt have the latest gen graphics is completely unplayable. Its surprisingly many people.

If scripting was taken more seriously we'd have awesome random quests and random monster encounters and cities that really behaved like cities and wars that really felt like wars. It would take gaming to a whole new experience, something many of us probably couldnt even imagine right now.
But theres no monetary incentive right now. Even though I'm darn sure it could happen if one developer were to just focus on it.

 

[RandomSanity]

I finished morrowind several time to reveal all endings. Oblivion I played through only once, and did not do nearly everything. That is going to have to change in the next while with the announcement of Skyrim

 

[Markbnj]

I finished Arena, Daggerfall, and Oblivion. Came close to finishing Morrowind but other things got in the way and I've never gone back to it. I liked the Morrowind game system better, but the alien-esque environment less.

I'll probably play Skyrim, but I need to hear that they learned some lessons from the way they did Oblivion, and won't be revisiting the mob/loot leveling system from that game. If it's the same I'll pass.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Graphics are still important, they help with immersion I find. I enjoyed just exploring the world of Oblivion when it was released and taking in the beautiful vistas...etc.

Combat, make it even better. Give me REAL spells to play with. Give me some spells that directly rip off the Mass Effect series - I want those biotic powers like Lift, Throw, Singularity...etc. Those are so much fun to mess around with and toy with the enemy ai. Give me spells that do all that - perhaps a Telekinesis spell tree...etc.

Work on the cinematic dialogue, again Mass Effect or even Dragon Age (not as good as ME though) are the gold standards here. I understand the breadth and scope of an Elder Scrolls game is much larger so concessions must be made...etc.

Give a more logical levelling system. We all know the problems with bandits running around in daedric armor, but how about the way it was almost smarter to choose different skills than the ones you intend to actually use so that you don't level up too fast...etc. Also no more - cast a spell 20 times to level it up...etc. Don't let me beat the game as a level 1 character.

Lots to improve on, I can't wait to learn more about this game!

 

[Borealis7]

Cliff Racers...i can still hear them in my dreams.

never again.

never again.

 

[bactiman]

Link to the Gameinformer preview of Skyrim.

http://gamerant.com/the-elder-scrolls-skyrim-game-informer-scans-dyce-60306/

Summary of the new info:

lvling revamped similar to FO3
Each level gives you perks
Level 1- 50, leveling is soft capped (lvling is very slow after 50)
5 Magic Schools: Destruction, Alteration, Conjuration , Restoration and Illusion.
18 skills
Enchanting is coming back
10 races to choose from
Dual-wielding: you have two hands now in combat and you can wield anything to both hands.
Radiant storytelling" or Level Scaling 2.0: "The game eventually logs a huge storehouse of knowledge about how you've played, and subsequently tailors content to your capabilities and experiences. Entering a city, a young woman might approach you and beg you to save her daughter from kidnappers. The game will look at the nearby dungeons you've explored, automatically set the mission in a place you've never visited, and designate opponents that are appropriately matched to your strengths and weaknesses."
cooking/farming/mining/woodcutting/blacksmithing
Updated Engine Snow falls dynamically (not as a basic texture on the ground)
Trees and branches move independently with the wind
Hud-free first-person view and improved third-person perspective
Finishing moves, unique to each weapon and enemy you fight
Inheritance: When you kill a shopkeeper, his/her family member will inherit the shop and will be angry with you, but still give you missions
Sprinting
very unique landscapes! Also unique dungeons!
Kids (not known if they can be killed)
Improved Faces/Improved Models Example: Faces have been dramatically overhauled. Characters now exhibit more emotion show of distinctions between different races and just plain looks better. Beards are in.
confirmed creatures: zombies, skeletons, trolls, giants, ice wraiths, giant spiders, dragons, wolves, horses Elk, mammoth, saber-toothed cats

 

[zokudu]

Sounds good. I messed with Daggerfall but was too young to get into it unfortunately. I just reinstalled Morrowind to mess with this 2011 mod with all the hoopla. Hopeing to full play it for the first time. Never really got into Oblivion. I bought it without reading the specs and I didn't have a good computer at the time. Never went back and played it too much.

 

[Sulaco]

I played and enjoyed Morrowind, but never felt at all compelled by the main story quest to even come close to finishing.

It was still one of the best open-game worlds ever created, but the plot/dialogue progression, combat quirks, and often uninteresting quests were enough to keep me from finishing it.

Oblivion on the other hand, I purchased on the first day, and I sank over 300 hours into. It was not perfect, and I had my share of complaints, but it created such a compelling world and so much to do and see, I really don't think I've ever been so engrossed by an RPG before, and for so long.

Skyrim will most definitely be another first day purchase for me.

 

[Dumac]

Oh look, Bethesda made a person who isn't hideous!!

http://oi53.tinypic.com/2cpx93t.jpg

scans can be found here:

http://www.atkcommunity.com/threads/2722-TES-V-Skyrim