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The Jimquisition: Fuck Skyrim

It amazes me Skyrim has the legs it has. I put about 60 hours into the PC version and dabbled last year in the PS4 rerelease, but that's about it. Never finished the main story either. I do find the game better than Oblivion.. although I actually did finish Oblivion, but I'm one of those Morrowind fanatics and consider that to be the pinnacle of the series.

You’re amazed that a game you played a good chunk of on PC then rebought years later on the PS4 still has legs?
 

BTHR Zero X

Member
I agree with him, because I never finished the first release of Skyrim.

First save I could not get Dragon Souls, at all, killed 100+ Dragons and not one damn soul..
Second Save would not progress past the greybeards, so yay!
Third save came after the first huge patch that would fix these things. No Dragon Souls, Greybeards still locked, black hand was not join-able and every time I entered Whiterun the guards would try and arrest me, even after being in jail.


It was one of the last games my mum got me before she passed and I never got to finish it.

These bugs should have been fixed, and charging full price for a remaster at this point is just damn greedy.
 

Grinchy

Banned
My problem with this position is that not many people understand the software development cycle. Whenever you introduce fixes, you need to perform extensive integration testing to ensure that a fix doesn't introduce a new bug or break the entire application.

Now normal software applications do not compare to the complexity of video games, so fixing pre-existing bugs has to be done in a way that minimizes testing and risk.

As many of you have stated, Skyrim is a 6 year old game. The game being ported to the consoles already has a cost associated with it. It must have been calculated that the projected amount of sales probably just barely justified the cost to port the game to these platforms. Pouring anymore assets into the project would introduce unnecessary financial risk.

- Software engineer right here
Then why are so many companies capable of doing this with their releases within weeks/months of launch? Why are online games able to be patched and upgraded so often over a long span of time?

This is a game that has sold over 20 million copies and continues to sell millions more with re-releases. I just don't believe that the porting costs alone ate up all the possible money that could have been spent on the multiple re-releases on multiple platforms.

I think it really just comes down to the idea that it's easier not to go back and fix anything, and they want to completely maximize profits. A company should want to do that, but it is the very definition of lazy. We can agree that they want to make the most money they can while also calling them out for leaving 6 year old problems in the game that random people on the internet were capable of fixing for them with 3 lines of code.
 

Andodalf

Banned
I think I know why Skyrim gets so much crap.

TES, like all franchises, has a cycle where the most recent game is shat on, the previous one is forgotten, and the one before that is the GOAT. Because no new TES has come out, its been in the Shit on phase for 6 years. My personal theory is that when TES VII comes out in 2026, We will have a great love for Skyrim like we did at launch.
 

FarmerGiles

Member
I think I know why Skyrim gets so much crap.

TES, like all franchises, has a cycle where the most recent game is shat on, the previous one is forgotten, and the one before that is the GOAT. Because no new TES has come out, its been in the Shit on phase for 6 years. My personal theory is that when TES VII comes out in 2026, We will have a great love for Skyrim like we did at launch.

Nah, they get shat on because Bethesda seem to get lazier and lazier with each release.

The problem is, Bethesda are the only ones doing the 'Bethesda-type' open world 1st person games, and people like myself lap that up. But when you get down to it and really think about the game you're playing, you begin to realise that there's so much potential there that just a little bit of extra care could help to achieve. Mods obviously do a great job of getting the game there, and that's why I personally still play the game. I would've dropped vanilla Skyrim years ago.

I think the term bandied around quite a lot fits it really well - As wide as an ocean; as deep as a puddle
 

Wulfram

Member
I think I know why Skyrim gets so much crap.

TES, like all franchises, has a cycle where the most recent game is shat on, the previous one is forgotten, and the one before that is the GOAT. Because no new TES has come out, its been in the Shit on phase for 6 years. My personal theory is that when TES VII comes out in 2026, We will have a great love for Skyrim like we did at launch.

My own theory is that Elder Scrolls games are basically the sort of game many people play until you're sick of them. Whether it lasts 2 hours or 2000 pretty much everyone gets there eventually, so the negative sentiment grows and the flaws that were once niggles turn into gamebreakers.

Whereas shorter games with clearer end points people stop when they're still in love, and so live in the memory as near perfect.
 
I think I know why Skyrim gets so much crap.

TES, like all franchises, has a cycle where the most recent game is shat on, the previous one is forgotten, and the one before that is the GOAT. Because no new TES has come out, its been in the Shit on phase for 6 years. My personal theory is that when TES VII comes out in 2026, We will have a great love for Skyrim like we did at launch.

I dont remember people talking that much shit about Skyrim when it came out, of course 6 years later people are going to call it Mediocre, when you have games like Horizon, BotW, and Witcher 3 which all have greater levels of exploration, and battle and with far less glitches, its gonna look long in the tooth, especially on a platform that you can't readily mod and put a new coat of paint on.
 
I dont remember people talking that much shit about Skyrim when it came out, of course 6 years later people are going to call it Mediocre, when you have games like Horizon, BotW, and Witcher 3 which all have greater levels of exploration, and battle and with far less glitches, its gonna look long in the tooth, especially on a platform that you can't readily mod and put a new coat of paint on.

Skyrim is still the best open world RPG with a small bit of modding. Even the PS4 version with the mods available is a uniquely great experience.

As far as the bugs go, I haven't experienced any quest bugs or anything significant like that in all the years I've played it, probably 1000 or so hours on multiple platforms.
 

Andodalf

Banned
My own theory is that Elder Scrolls games are basically the sort of game many people play until you're sick of them. Whether it lasts 2 hours or 2000 pretty much everyone gets there eventually, so the negative sentiment grows and the flaws that were once niggles turn into gamebreakers.

Whereas shorter games with clearer end points people stop when they're still in love, and so live in the memory as near perfect.
The Ole leave em wanting more! A classic Costanza move!
 
Then why are so many companies capable of doing this with their releases within weeks/months of launch? Why are online games able to be patched and upgraded so often over a long span of time?

This is a game that has sold over 20 million copies and continues to sell millions more with re-releases. I just don't believe that the porting costs alone ate up all the possible money that could have been spent on the multiple re-releases on multiple platforms.

I think it really just comes down to the idea that it's easier not to go back and fix anything, and they want to completely maximize profits. A company should want to do that, but it is the very definition of lazy. We can agree that they want to make the most money they can while also calling them out for leaving 6 year old problems in the game that random people on the internet were capable of fixing for them with 3 lines of code.

Not trying to attack anyone here. Just giving a perspective from a software engineer.

Personally, I agree with you. I just want to implant the idea that there are more variables to consider than some people think.
 
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