I was talking to a friend about skyrim today, and he said it was a really great game and that he loved it. I am not entirely sure why as I havnet played it myself, but it was interesting to hear a positive opinion against all of these seemingly negative ones.
I got Skyrim yesterday, but calling it ‘Oblivion 2’ would have been more appropriate.
I’m really mixed about it. On the one hand it’s great, really great, but on the other it still seems to be lacking something. Mostly it feels like a fixed version of Oblivion: better world map, better cities, better enemies, simpler UI, fighting is slightly better. It does not feel like a new Elder Scrolls game, it certainly doesn’t feel like how different Oblivion was compared to Morrowind, which is it’s biggest problem for me.
For me and the PC version :
- there is some improvement for the graphics (it don’t mush for the environment, but it is far better for people)
- PERK
- UI… UI is just horrible. It was taken for the XBox and mess up it. On time you have to use the mouse, another keys. You have to use arrow key while you should use “ASDW”. Lot of thing that is unintuitive for me.
- Dungeon design… even worst than Oblivion for the one I have finished : linear and uninterresting.
- caract system. Everything is remove beside MP/HP/Stamina.
- the story… I can’t help. I don’t like the fact that the main character is a choosen one with divine power.
- health regeneration. I just have to wait a bit to get back my health full.
Thats a big downer for me too. Does every RPG or fantasy story really have to revolve around a “chosen one” or a “prophecy”? Its just lazy writing IMO. What is fun is the -unexpected-, a prophecy is everything but. Immersion is a big factor in how long a game stays entertaining; an average and conflicted Joe that grows into someone quite extraordinary speaks far more to the imagination than someone chosen by the gods IMO.
Prophecy is getting kind of old, but if you interpret “Chosen one” to mean “the hero we’re waiting for”, then probably yeah, it does have to for the most part. There are not that many original plots in existence, and even the most generous listing puts it at only about 30 or so. Turns out the Human Experience just isn’t all that varied.
The description of the character certainly doesn’t surprise anyone, but let’s try to avoid spoilers okay? 
You can use WASD for navigation, whilst tab and ‘e’ can be used for all cancel and enter commands (even when it says to press enter).
It was clearly designed for a console, but I really like the new UI. My hand can stay on the WASD keys the whole time, and it feels much more slick. I find I use the mouse far less then I did with Oblivion, and get to what I want quicker. The only downside are the ‘are you sure’ dialogs, where you have to use the mouse, such as when smithing a new item.
I never liked that fact that I had to make major decisions about how my characters stats were setup, within the first 5 minutes of the game. Especially when I didn’t know how I was going to be playing. This change removes a lot of that, and you still have all the separate skills.
You don’t replenish during fights, so it doesn’t give you any advantage. In Oblivion I found myself waiting between fights for my MP to replenish, so I could repeatedly cast ‘heal’. That was very tedious, and very annoying, and all this change does is remove that annoyance.
I dislike the simplified armour. I much preferred how in Morrowind you had separate left/right sections for bits of armour, and skirts/shirts/robes you could have over the top. It gave you far more room for customization, and encouraged you to end up with varied mismatched armour.
One thing I really don’t like is how easy I’m finding it. I’m somewhere over lv 25, have lv 100 smithing, full glass armour (would have dragon armour if I had more dragon scales), a fully decorated house, and some other achievements. I have explored a lot of outer regions on the map, with no real trouble, and I have been killed by only a handful of enemies, where in each case I have reloaded and found an easy way to kill them. I’m also playing on Expert, and this is all after just two days.
In Oblivion, and especially Morrowind, it would have taken me much longer to feel as powerful as I am. It feels like I’m finding Skyrim far too easy, and am accelerating far too quickly through the game. I really hope it gets a lot more difficult, and has a lot more depth to it, as so far it’s just a breeze.