Originally posted by Ozmodan

Could not enjoy the game because of the horrible interface.  Seems like the devs spent too much time playing old DOS games and not good ones at that.

Skyrim is a console port. I guess if you are using a PC with mousie, then might want to think about a gamepad for now. Not all games are designed for mousie point-an-click these days.

Goddamn! I'm at least 6 weeks behind the extended date for my work assignment, have another assignment (legal module in Dec) due end of Jan, need to update my Pc to play SW:TOR, organise my trip to Asia for Feb 12, and now you are all telling me that vanilla Skyrim is single-player RPG goodness!?

*sigh*

Fortunately, I'm patient and by the time I get round to playing Skyrim (I'm still not done with Morrowind! Yet to play Oblivion), there will be Mods goodness! Hopefully, something along the lines of the 'House of Earthly Delights'. 

Dating? Social life? Both have had too many troughs recently compared to peaks, so if I get my butt into gear and focus on work, work assignments, upgrading my Pc, I'll have oodles and oodle of gaming goodness!

Keep this thread going, folks! I love reading about your experiences. The screen-shots that you've been posting are nothing short of awesome (love the two arrows :P).

P.s. Killing innocent people, dragging their bodies to the river, dumping them and watching them float away? I NEED to buy this game! That's just so frickken' awesome! In a non-psychopath way, of course ..

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Could not enjoy the game because of the horrible interface.  Seems like the devs spent too much time playing old DOS games and not good ones at that.

Skyrim is a console port. I guess if you are using a PC with mousie, then might want to think about a gamepad for now. Not all games are designed for mousie point-an-click these days.

Also, it does not take that long to get used to the interface, but suppose you can always wait for mods.

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Could not enjoy the game because of the horrible interface.  Seems like the devs spent too much time playing old DOS games and not good ones at that.

Skyrim is a console port. I guess if you are using a PC with mousie, then might want to think about a gamepad for now. Not all games are designed for mousie point-an-click these days.

Considering the game series started on PC then moved to consoles, and considering the game is sold on both platforms of PC and Console, and considering yet again that Bethesda is a multimillion dollar (if not more) game company, then I don't feel it is unreasonable for a PC player to expect that the game company would create a proper interface for both platforms. It would be exactly the same for a console player to complain if they ported the game from a keyboard/mouse interface and made it more difficult than needed for console players who use a controller. It seems to be unexpected apathy in a company that otherwise seems to work their ass off to perfect their products. And can afford the extra work involved.

Ok onto my impressions of the game.

Since I was deeply dissapointed with Oblivion and Fallout 3 I decided to wait to try Skyrim before I bought it. Luckily one of my co-workers grabbed a copy then had to go work a sixteen hour shift, leaving me to slash and bash my way through Bethesda's new epic for a few hours.

What can I say, the game world is gorgeous, mountains truly look towering and hostile, the combat feels pretty darn fluid, hearing my character gasp and grunt as he swung around a massive two handed hammer and actually got too tired to wield it, was an excellent touch of realism. The Voice acting is good, the NPCs and monsters (especially the drgaons!), not to mention even the default player charcters all look fantastic. The story line seems solid, though I spent most of my time exploring, stealing, and attacking anything i could for the sheer unbridled hell of it. From what I saw today it looks like Skyrim really does deserve the high priase it has been getting.

That said, now we get to the warts of the game. Many of them annoyances from Bethesda games long past.

Very unfriendly save game option that has been around since at least Morrowind. Hate it. I like to play multiple characters and having to wade through what save is who's is a blue arsed baboon btich of a time. Not sure if this is because that is the way the game has to be for the consoles or because Bethesda just flat doesn't care, but for whatever reason it is a big turn off for me.

Start a new character and have to trudge through the game intro all over again. Sorry but there is no freaking reason for this. While not a big deal its an annoyance that does not need to exist.

Old fall back of The Chosen One story line. Man I am so sick of this little cliche in flims, books and games. Not everyone feels the need to be the one and only true badass in a game world. Sometimes its nice to just be one of the helping hands. Or even a conniving gutter rat who steals their shiny things. Being set up as the messiah actaully cheapens the game experiance for me. It gives me a feeling that I can't really lose and that none of my actions really matter that much in this nice open game world because I really should just be charging on to my destiny and sod the flipping flowers along the way.

The game UI has contracted chronic consolitis again. Sorry but such a massive company should have the courtesy to tailor the game interface to the platform it is played on. No ands ifs or buts. If they can release multi language versions they can do this simple task. And if they had gone the other way and shafted the console players I'd be supporting their case as well. It isn't my dislike of the console industry talking, but my dislike of companies who can afford not to, cutting corners that make the game experiance less than it should be.

Saddling DVD disk buying games with Steam (or windows live), sorry but screw you Betheasda. I actually like and use Steam from time to time (I personally prefer direct2drive for digital purchases) but there is absoloutely no rational reason for doing this. There are a plethora of file servers for game companies to host upgrade patches, most gamers are computer savy enough to know how to find them without big brother holding them by the hand. And the argument that it prevents piracy is laughable as there was already a no steam crack out for PCs yesterday. And the Xbox pirated version of the game was in the wild last week. So this is just another case of a third parties maketing strategy being foisted on the game buyer. No thanks, I don't need to be given a Tescos shopping card when I shop at Sainsburys.

Hearing the Bethesda studio head continually bitching about how tough it is to code the game for the PC as compaired to the Console. Suck it up butter cup, you guys are laughing all the way to the bank. If you've become so jaded that your job, in fact at least half YOUR BREAD AND BUTTER has become too tedious to create, step down and let some more determined talent take over. Stop alienating a decent portion of your customer base, some of which have been around since the days when PC was the only option.

So final verdict for me?

All in all its a great game, but the annoyances (most of them seemingly bafflingly unecessary) I mentioned are going to keep me personally from buying the game for now, as I already have a couple of other games to spend my free time with.

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Could not enjoy the game because of the horrible interface.  Seems like the devs spent too much time playing old DOS games and not good ones at that.

Skyrim is a console port. I guess if you are using a PC with mousie, then might want to think about a gamepad for now. Not all games are designed for mousie point-an-click these days.

Gamepad is good for ui but mouse for moving the camera and fighting is 3 times better. I couldn;t stand fighting with gamepad and I don't know how anyone would want to use it.

btw.

Who cares about dragons when we have things like this: So cute =P So far Skyrim reminds me of the whole war of independence od Scotland.

Originally posted by TwilightEdge

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Could not enjoy the game because of the horrible interface.  Seems like the devs spent too much time playing old DOS games and not good ones at that.

Skyrim is a console port. I guess if you are using a PC with mousie, then might want to think about a gamepad for now. Not all games are designed for mousie point-an-click these days.

Gamepad is good for ui but mouse for moving the camera and fighting is 3 times better. I couldn;t stand fighting with gamepad and I don't know how anyone would want to use it.

 

btw.

Who cares about dragons when we have things like this: So cute =P So far Skyrim reminds me of the whole war of independence od Scotland.

Heilan Coos' seem popular in games atm, rift has them also.

It just gets better and better since I abandoned the main quest and all the political hubris and joined the thieves guild. Best single player sandbox experience I ever had. Compared to all the goodness it brings, the (current) lack of a perfect UI is a very, very small offering. It's Oblivion + Morrowind, squared.

Only thing I really need is a house in Riften. Curious what the prerequisites are because the steward won't talk about any real estate yet.

I am sorry if this is not the proper thread to discuss this but after watching several youtube videos I am quite frankly astonished at how casting spells work in this game. Please correct me if I am wrong but does one open the menu and pick a spell and place it in either your right or left hand then you shut the menu down and proceed to cast it by either using the left or right mouse button. 

I am talking about keyboard and mouse here and I am horrible with controllers so please refrain from suggesting I switch to it. I just want to know how you are all casting spells and fighting and how you aim once you navigate out of the menu. I rather also play only in third person view.

To be perfectly honest it looked very stuttered the fighting because this chap kept going back to the menu and switching spells from healing to some kind of attack spell and it was so very clumsy and cumbersome I was honestly thinking he was playing it wrong. Is there anyway to map the spells to the keyboard or some other method to get a spell far more easily and with less navigation involved.

I notice you swing a sword more naturally and it seems very intuitive but casting spells seem very counter intuitive like you are standing there opening  spell books then checking table of contents to see which spells to cast then equipping it and by the time you come up for air you should be roasted to a crisp by a bored dragon. However all combat is frozen while you dither about picking a spell to cast.

Originally posted by Tardcore

Originally posted by Illyssia

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Could not enjoy the game because of the horrible interface.  Seems like the devs spent too much time playing old DOS games and not good ones at that.

Skyrim is a console port. I guess if you are using a PC with mousie, then might want to think about a gamepad for now. Not all games are designed for mousie point-an-click these days.

Considering the game series started on PC then moved to consoles, and considering the game is sold on both platforms of PC and Console, and considering yet again that Bethesda is a multimillion dollar (if not more) game company, then I don't feel it is unreasonable for a PC player to expect that the game company would create a proper interface for both platforms. It would be exactly the same for a console player to complain if they ported the game from a keyboard/mouse interface and made it more difficult than needed for console players who use a controller. It seems to be unexpected apathy in a company that otherwise seems to work their ass off to perfect their products. And can afford the extra work involved.

 

Ok onto my impressions of the game.

Since I was deeply dissapointed with Oblivion and Fallout 3 I decided to wait to try Skyrim before I bought it. Luckily one of my co-workers grabbed a copy then had to go work a sixteen hour shift, leaving me to slash and bash my way through Bethesda's new epic for a few hours.

What can I say, the game world is gorgeous, mountains truly look towering and hostile, the combat feels pretty darn fluid, hearing my character gasp and grunt as he swung around a massive two handed hammer and actually got too tired to wield it, was an excellent touch of realism. The Voice acting is good, the NPCs and monsters (especially the drgaons!), not to mention even the default player charcters all look fantastic. The story line seems solid, though I spent most of my time exploring, stealing, and attacking anything i could for the sheer unbridled hell of it. From what I saw today it looks like Skyrim really does deserve the high priase it has been getting.

That said, now we get to the warts of the game. Many of them annoyances from Bethesda games long past.

Very unfriendly save game option that has been around since at least Morrowind. Hate it. I like to play multiple characters and having to wade through what save is who's is a blue arsed baboon btich of a time. Not sure if this is because that is the way the game has to be for the consoles or because Bethesda just flat doesn't care, but for whatever reason it is a big turn off for me.

Start a new character and have to trudge through the game intro all over again. Sorry but there is no freaking reason for this. While not a big deal its an annoyance that does not need to exist.

Old fall back of The Chosen One story line. Man I am so sick of this little cliche in flims, books and games. Not everyone feels the need to be the one and only true badass in a game world. Sometimes its nice to just be one of the helping hands. Or even a conniving gutter rat who steals their shiny things. Being set up as the messiah actaully cheapens the game experiance for me. It gives me a feeling that I can't really lose and that none of my actions really matter that much in this nice open game world because I really should just be charging on to my destiny and sod the flipping flowers along the way.

The game UI has contracted chronic consolitis again. Sorry but such a massive company should have the courtesy to tailor the game interface to the platform it is played on. No ands ifs or buts. If they can release multi language versions they can do this simple task. And if they had gone the other way and shafted the console players I'd be supporting their case as well. It isn't my dislike of the console industry talking, but my dislike of companies who can afford not to, cutting corners that make the game experiance less than it should be.

Saddling DVD disk buying games with Steam (or windows live), sorry but screw you Betheasda. I actually like and use Steam from time to time (I personally prefer direct2drive for digital purchases) but there is absoloutely no rational reason for doing this. There are a plethora of file servers for game companies to host upgrade patches, most gamers are computer savy enough to know how to find them without big brother holding them by the hand. And the argument that it prevents piracy is laughable as there was already a no steam crack out for PCs yesterday. And the Xbox pirated version of the game was in the wild last week. So this is just another case of a third parties maketing strategy being foisted on the game buyer. No thanks, I don't need to be given a Tescos shopping card when I shop at Sainsburys.

Hearing the Bethesda studio head continually bitching about how tough it is to code the game for the PC as compaired to the Console. Suck it up butter cup, you guys are laughing all the way to the bank. If you've become so jaded that your job, in fact at least half YOUR BREAD AND BUTTER has become too tedious to create, step down and let some more determined talent take over. Stop alienating a decent portion of your customer base, some of which have been around since the days when PC was the only option.

 

So final verdict for me?

All in all its a great game, but the annoyances (most of them seemingly bafflingly unecessary) I mentioned are going to keep me personally from buying the game for now, as I already have a couple of other games to spend my free time with.

Very well written  agree on most your saying here and sum up same problems i have with game.

I still play it and its a great game world to explore in but i still have alot mixed feelings about game its a very dumbed down version even more easy then Oblivion. But world graphics and design to explore are unmatched and superb.

So for part exploring freedom and grahics(would have been higher if game was specially made for PC in DX11) 9/10 but for downside 7/10

Originally posted by kitarad

I am sorry if this is not the proper thread to discuss this but after watching several youtube videos I am quite frankly astonished at how casting spells work in this game. Please correct me if I am wrong but does one open the menu and pick a spell and place it in either your right or left hand then you shut the menu down and proceed to cast it by either using the left or right mouse button. 

 

I am talking about keyboard and mouse here and I am horrible with controllers so please refrain from suggesting I switch to it. I just want to know how you are all casting spells and fighting and how you aim once you navigate out of the menu. I rather also play only in third person view.

 

To be perfectly honest it looked very stuttered the fighting because this chap kept going back to the menu and switching spells from healing to some kind of attack spell and it was so very clumsy and cumbersome I was honestly thinking he was playing it wrong. Is there anyway to map the spells to the keyboard or some other method to get a spell far more easily and with less navigation involved.

 

I notice you swing a sword more naturally and it seems very intuitive but casting spells seem very counter intuitive like you are standing there opening  spell books then checking table of contents to see which spells to cast then equipping it and by the time you come up for air you should be roasted to a crisp by a bored dragon. However all combat is frozen while you dither about picking a spell to cast.

When you're in this context menu (it's under Q so it's easy to press) you can map spells or items from it uder 1-8 so it's easy to switch spells during the combat on the fly. =]

Ahh thank you twilight that eases my concerns.

Originally posted by kitarad

I am sorry if this is not the proper thread to discuss this but after watching several youtube videos I am quite frankly astonished at how casting spells work in this game. Please correct me if I am wrong but does one open the menu and pick a spell and place it in either your right or left hand then you shut the menu down and proceed to cast it by either using the left or right mouse button. 

 

I am talking about keyboard and mouse here and I am horrible with controllers so please refrain from suggesting I switch to it. I just want to know how you are all casting spells and fighting and how you aim once you navigate out of the menu. I rather also play only in third person view.

 

To be perfectly honest it looked very stuttered the fighting because this chap kept going back to the menu and switching spells from healing to some kind of attack spell and it was so very clumsy and cumbersome I was honestly thinking he was playing it wrong. Is there anyway to map the spells to the keyboard or some other method to get a spell far more easily and with less navigation involved.

 

I notice you swing a sword more naturally and it seems very intuitive but casting spells seem very counter intuitive like you are standing there opening  spell books then checking table of contents to see which spells to cast then equipping it and by the time you come up for air you should be roasted to a crisp by a bored dragon. However all combat is frozen while you dither about picking a spell to cast.

If you go into menu game is constantly paused so all casuals can play it game is very easy even on hardest settings very dumbed down version game is alot more easy then Oblivion and not made for PC at all.

But still enjoyable to play becouse of freedom and open world to explore its beautifull even its DX9 XP game.

Originally posted by DarkPony

Originally posted by Teala

Originally posted by DarkPony

I already used up one horse V_V

Rode of a steep cliff while being chased by wolves. Poor thing broke its neck and I rolled off unharmed.

Poor ol' Rupert, you shall be remembered!

LOL my first horse I left outside a dungeon.  Came back and all I found was a huge pool of blood.   :(   I think something big ate him.

Anyway here is a pick of my character, Kahvi Two Arrows, and some others from a village killing a dragon!  It was at night and it was fricking epic!

Hehe, nice. I love how the main theme kicks in after a dragon kill. I managed to kill a second one (after the intro one) too but with help from a lot of soldiers. They are really nasty but giants are just lethal .... friggin' giant one shotted me, flinging my corpse maybe 100 yards straight up into the sky (not kidding, probably somekind of bug where the force of a blow misses a maximum knock-back distance). I'll give giants a lot of space and respect for the time being :)

I love it how they are totally frighting experiences. When I wander the landscape and see one circling over a place, seeking for apparently me, I really feel like cover behind some rock!

Awesome large sandbox world, it really looks like a grand painting. Only the characters still look a bit ugly, teh. Other than that, another dream RPG! :)

EDIT: I really wish horses were immortal. It just sucks to pay 1000 gold and blammo dead. :(

You know what I find awesome is all the little side quest...that lead you to areas to explore where...you find little things that turn into a makeshift home-made, quest to find a particular place, thing...just awesome.   :) 

Also, anyone else feel, while playing, that you hear soundtracks from Conan the Barbarian playing in the background or maybe Lord of the Rings?  Game just brings out the feeling of being in a land of high adventure.  :)

Originally posted by Teala

Also, anyone else feel, while playing, that you hear soundtracks from Conan the Barbarian playing in the background or maybe Lord of the Rings?  Game just brings out the feeling of being in a land of high adventure.  :)

Yeah. But only after I cranked up the music volume. Somehow by default it's much too low. Atmosphere is amazing.

While the graphics are amazing the questing and "open world" is bleh. I don't want the ability to travel to different cities for different quests at different times. I want to know that next city coming up is next objective and I'm done with this stink hole I'm at currently.

My friend bought it, I played it for about an hour while he played with his kid and I certainly won't be buying it.

I prefer linear games too. Always loved FF for this but there is a main storyline in Skyrim too which leads you from place to place. If you don;t want to don;t wander off.

I just killed my 1st dragon and can use shouts.. yeah! =P I loved the moment when a mage asked me about a tablet from some ruins and I already got it earlier. He was all like.. omg you already got it? Nicccee. =P

Originally posted by Terranah

Also there is a graphical glitch? that makes the end part of my characters nose kind of pixelated.  I tried adjusting AA to no apparent effect. It was also present before and after upgrading my drivers.

That's a result of the normal maps they're using. When they baked their normal maps from the 3D models, Bethesda's artists didn't smooth those sections out.

There is a fix for it though. Someone actually made a mod specifically for that..

Click Here.

If you're on PC, it'll fix it right up and smooth that out. If you're on Console.. not sure what your options are.

Admittedly, that was a rather sloppy oversight on their part.

I made a quick panorama from the area around Solitude: clicky for big

Heavilly compressed to make photobucket eat it though. In game it looks just dead gorgeous.