Full disclosure: This is my first Elder Scrolls experience.
I was originally thinking of writing a very long post, being very specific about the elements of the game that bug me, but in the spirit of my original point I am going to keep this very brief.
I understand a lot of why people praise Skyrim, and probably the whole Elder Scrolls series in general. As much as the game has flaws on a technical level, there really is a great appeal to have a massive world to explore. I felt connected to the world and there were plenty of great moments that I wanted to share with friends. There are definitely highlights and things I liked about playing this game.
But I've put in about 120 hours into the game and I'm not even sure that I could say that I'm halfway finished. There is a lot of content but there's also a shitload of fluff and things to do that waste my time. The UI is just astronomically bad and the amount of time I spend doing inventory management, crafting items, dicking with vendors, etc is staggering. It's like almost half the game. I go into a dwarven ruin or a crypt for the 5th time and it feels like I'm just going through the motions. Oh God, I have to fight ANOTHER dragon? I've got 20 Dragon Souls in my inventory and no shouts to use them on! Oh man, before I can become Thane of this hold I have to chop that wood, retrieve that satchel, and pet this cat.
The design is just not very focused. It doesn't seem like Bethesda was very interested in making sure that all of the elements that make up the game are interesting and polished. Just stuff the game as full to the brim with content as possible and people will overlook everything else.
I was originally thinking of writing a very long post, being very specific about the elements of the game that bug me, but in the spirit of my original point I am going to keep this very brief.
I understand a lot of why people praise Skyrim, and probably the whole Elder Scrolls series in general. As much as the game has flaws on a technical level, there really is a great appeal to have a massive world to explore. I felt connected to the world and there were plenty of great moments that I wanted to share with friends. There are definitely highlights and things I liked about playing this game.
But I've put in about 120 hours into the game and I'm not even sure that I could say that I'm halfway finished. There is a lot of content but there's also a shitload of fluff and things to do that waste my time. The UI is just astronomically bad and the amount of time I spend doing inventory management, crafting items, dicking with vendors, etc is staggering. It's like almost half the game. I go into a dwarven ruin or a crypt for the 5th time and it feels like I'm just going through the motions. Oh God, I have to fight ANOTHER dragon? I've got 20 Dragon Souls in my inventory and no shouts to use them on! Oh man, before I can become Thane of this hold I have to chop that wood, retrieve that satchel, and pet this cat.
The design is just not very focused. It doesn't seem like Bethesda was very interested in making sure that all of the elements that make up the game are interesting and polished. Just stuff the game as full to the brim with content as possible and people will overlook everything else.