Is Skyrim Actually a Good Game?

[gbullock32]

While I preferred Oblivion I did really enjoy Skyrim and put about 800 hours into it between PC and Xbox; RPG games, and especially open world ones, always hit a sweet spot for me.

[Mentora]

Is Skyrim a good game - YES. Is is a great game - Maybe.

Before commenting on the game now in 2019, please note that this game came out in 2011. RPG was slowly dying as new generation gamers prefer shooters, MMORPG, MOBA's and mobile game. Skyrim showed the world in a big way especially to the western gamers what an RPG is all about. It has it's flaws, weakness and short comings. But it's a game that is good enough that it manages to shine despite these negative traits.

[PriestTroit]

Skyrim is definitely on my all-time favorite games list. Damn, I must've played hundreds of hours over a ton of characters. I 100% it except for completing the last quests. My biggest complain about Skyrim is that it streamlined many of the RPG elements a little too much.

For instance, OP says he thinks the fast travel system is something that breaks immersion. I have to agree to an extent because I loved how in Morrowind you needed to follow directions in order to get to a quest zone or a new city. It was pretty fun following the road you were told to go on and to find that the cave or whatever actually is just around the hill on the left. The journal was kind of a clusterfuck, however in Morrowind. Skyrim (and Oblivion) majorly improved on the quest list.

But... as far as I'm aware, Skyrim is THE best selling game in history. There's practically not a gamer who hasn't played or heard about it.

[JackofTears]

I really enjoyed Skyrim. I like exploring in games and the freedom to do so, in a world so packed full of content, was a delight. The Modding community even made the experience better by adding interesting Quests and NPCs, complete with voice acting and their own side missions. The furthest I ever pursued the main story was up the mountain to see the elders but everyone knows the main story is just a facade in Bethesda games anyway - the real experience comes from following your own path.

[Omegapyrate]

Damndest thing- I fully acknowledge The Witcher 3 is a vastly superior game..... but I still choose to play Skyrim more often.

[Errant_Error]

I've started skyrim like 10 times and always quit a handful of hours in. I had the same feelings about oblivion and morrowind as well. I just find the combat to be boring really but aside from that exploring the world was cool just not cool enough to keep me going. I dont think it's a bad game or doesn't deserve praise I just bounce off it like a companion shouted down a mountain top.

[Snakeysnakey]

U like skyrim but I still see the problems. The follower's were meh compared to fallout ''s and the quest weren't as fun and memorable as oblivion's.

[Merlin]

I would encourage everyone here despite your opinions of Skyrim to check out the Beyond Skyrim team. To me, they have made Skyrim better than Bethesda ever did. They are the reason that I am still interested in the game. The video attached to this post is dev diary of the freaking modders only team!! It's only 8 minutes of pure passion.

That is always why it kept people coming back after the initial release. It would have been no more than an okayish game that people forgot about. Mods made the game, and still does. The passion is based on the lore more than the game itself i feel, and the dreams left as echoes from the first 2 games which laid the groundwork of lore and carried things forward. Much as Aerrae said, exploration was great because the world was rich and alive.

Mods and fan projects are honestly what I see on a whole, keeping IPs alive. Elder scrolls is perhaps one of the biggest. Skywind, skybilvion, Beyond Skyrim, and I forget there have been so many. I know there have been fan expansions bigger than the entire paid DLC for free. I'd say only Star Trek has a more passionate and creative fan base. But the recent Star Wars fan film about darth vader is like life support for that franchise, one that the creatives making the new films don't deserve.

I don't keep up much with these projects because the work is slow and I prefer not to yearn for it. But once it all happens and is complete I will gladly come back to skyrim, not because it was a good game, but because the fans really took up the mantle and made it what we all dreamed it could be.

[Merlin]

oh thanks for that. I don't recall ever sleeping in that game though. Could that have also been the issue? I think a big part of it was I didn't know how to build a character so I was frankly a mess and my weapons kept dulling. I may skip it though still in favor of morrowind first. I looked into mods for oblivion but on modern hardware it seems to be a lost art with compatibility issues.

I'd appreciate any suggestions otherwise, and especially any good character builds to try that make the game easier. I don't have preferences to play style very much so I'm up for anything, even if it includes leveling noncombat skills. I really enjoyed potion making skyrim for example.

[Aerrae]

I think the base game is like this...

Graphics/art style -> They're horrifying. Unappealing in almost everywhere. It's very dull and drab.

Gameplay -> The combat is a bit lame and lacking in depth, it has its moments depending on the skills you pick but a lot of builds are just so much better than others. Base destruction is basically crap.

Exploration -> Pretty much the only reason to play. There's a lot of good quests to discover. Good loot, it really feels like you're making your own way and your own legend. That part is fucking great.

Basically... it's a nice skeleton of a game. So it's just barely okay on consoles.

NOW!

Modded is a different story because they address practically every issue. But that isn't the game we got.

It's a meh game with some good points that is only saved by the gracious modding community that has literally everything you could want.

[thenicknash]

I would encourage everyone here despite your opinions of Skyrim to check out the Beyond Skyrim team. To me, they have made Skyrim better than Bethesda ever did. They are the reason that I am still interested in the game. The video attached to this post is dev diary of the freaking modders only team!! It's only 8 minutes of pure passion.

[iamRa]

The key to level progression in Oblivion is not sleeping every chance you get to lvl up. your skills will lvl up by themselves without your character lvling up. and the enemies in the game progress in level and difficulty with your character. you should definitely go back to it, and keep that in mind. i loved oblivion. the quests in that game and the npc dialog is a thousand times better than skyrim.

[iamRa]

I enjoyed Witcher III . i really would like to play the first two, but i feel like i had to be there when it came out to enjoy it. the graphics to my eyes here and now just makes me cringe. which is sad, i feel a bit shallow for saying so.. it would really be cool if they remastered them.

[iamRa]

I really liked this video/ review. it pretty much encapsulates my feelings for it. Perhaps i was a bit jaded from my completionist run of Oblivion, of which i absolutely loved, even though the graphics now seem WAY outdated, the story of that game kept me going. and every character... well had character, surprisingly good voice acting too. Skyrim to me was like the first time i had sex, there in a room with a pretty lady, super turned on, and then all too soon its over.. and a veil of shame over comes you... well its sort of like that, but the quests like the video was going on about, just couldnt keep me coming back, they were boring, the only reason i kept playing it was because i was free roaming basically until lvl 50 something, then coming back to the main quest line was like a chore. running up those mountains, hopping up straight cliffs. wasnt as bad as oblivion. and both of them the level progression was bad, oblivion you could stay lvl 1 as long as you never went to sleep. and skyrim just took away all aspects of a true rpg.

But all in all i enjoyed playing the game, to me the game has a pretty even balance between good and bad. but in Oblivion the bad was funny.

[isturbo1984]

A video game with a bad story goesn't make for a good game??... or did you mean it doesn't make for a good story? What ever happened to "gameplay is king"? I think you are talking about books and not video games.